


Who's the Buster?

by JessicaMDawn



Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, F/F, Gen, M/M, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-11 04:38:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4421675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaMDawn/pseuds/JessicaMDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where mutants and cops are enemies, Brian O’Conner is an undercover agent in the mutant capital of the USA. Dominic Toretto and his team run this city and Brian will have to get close to them if he wants to complete his mission and get out alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beta read by DLanaDHZ.

The sign marking the edge of Los Angeles was bright and told the viewer to 'Return soon!' in full technicolor glory. It gave Brian a sense of longing to go back and see the bright city again, even before he'd actually left it.

The sign just a bare hundred feet beyond that was much simpler. It was square, with a small hump on top, and read "Now Entering Torettown" in plain yet strangely welcoming font. Someone had nailed another sign to the bottom of it with the words "NO COPS" in all capital letters in red at the top and "We Handle Our Own" in smaller black letters along the bottom.

Despite the lawless impression the sign gave, the city beyond had no distinct difference from LA. The split between cities happened in the midst of a suburb with barely a picket fence to mark the delineation between the two areas. From all the rumors about Torettown, Brian was a bit underwhelmed.

People said non-mutants entered and never returned from Torettown. There were stories of rampant crime, though a look at public records would prove them false. All the criminals from the west coast fled to Torettown, they said, and it was a city of crime lords and Mafioso. It was a real life Gotham. So they said.

It looked like suburbia L.A. with manicured lawns and uneven, hilly streets and cramped store fronts. A bit of tension left Brian's shoulders as he took in how completely _normal_ Torettown appeared.

He drove for about five minutes, checking his map and his phone several times. The red mark he'd made for The Racer's Edge was obvious on paper, but it was proving difficult to find in real life. Checking his watch proved he was fifteen minutes late.

"Damn," he muttered aloud, glancing around for the nearest street sign. His sense of direction was never this bad. In fact, his ability to find his way was usually something he prided himself on.

Engines revved nearby and in seconds, his Eclipse was surrounded by motorcycles. Abandoning his directions, Brian tried to get out of the sea of bikes, but they followed him around a corner and then began to push him toward the side of the road. Realizing that it was pull over or run them over, Brian sighed out a 'shit' and pulled to a stop along the curb. The bikes stopped with him.

The whole crew stepped off their bikes, but only two removed their helmets. The younger looking one stepped forward. Even knowing it could be the dumbest thing he'd ever done, Brian got out of his car to face him.

"Hey there, newbie," the biker greeted. "You lose your way?" Brian just stared at him and he motioned to the girl sitting propped on the back of his bike. "We understand. After all, my girl's got a way with directions."

She was staring hard at Brian, her eyes an unnatural shade of bright green. Without moving his head, Brian glanced at the nearest street sign and saw the letters shift into a different name. She was messing with his brain even as they stood there, confusing him and leading him into this gang's territory. He glared at the shorter man.

"What do you want from me?" he asked.

The biker shrugged nonchalantly. "Not often we get visitors here," he commented lightly, to chuckles from his gang. He ran his hand along the hood of Brian's car and Brian followed him with his eyes. "Nice ride. You've put some work into this. I can tell."

Brian narrowed his eyes. "Thanks," he said monotonously. "Nice bike." A hint of sarcasm seeped into his tone and it was obvious that everyone heard it.

The biker's eyes flicked up to meet his. "Watch your tone, Reg," he said in warning, his skin beginning to take on a red color. "You're in our city now, so you play by our rules. Isn't that right, Lance?"

The other biker who had removed his helmet nodded. At the same moment, two guns lifted from the straps on his back and aimed at Brian, all without being touched by anyone. "Right."

"You have any piercings?" the first biker asked. "My cousin, Lance, loves metal piercings."

For a moment, Brian was intensely grateful he'd decided not to pierce his ears when he was younger, if a metal controlling mutant was gonna try and rip them out now.

The girl on the bike suddenly shouted as the bike sparked and little explosions rippled through the body. She jumped off and scrambled away from the now smoking wreck, moving to stand next to another man on a bike several feet away. Surprisingly, there wasn't a mark on her.

The man talking to Brian growled and hurried to his bike, his skin returning to its natural color. "My bike!"

"Sorry 'bout that," a female voice said, not sounding sorry at all. "You know how hard it can be to control lightning, Johnny."

From around the edge of a store came a woman in camo pants and a red tank top, flexing her fingers by her sides, sunglasses perched on her nose. Behind her came a mousy man wearing jeans, a distressed denim vest, and a rainbow colored beanie. He was grinning like someone just told a joke but he didn't want to show his amusement.

"Hard to ride without a ride, bro," the mousy man teased. "You know, a real set of wheels, I could fix in like two hours, but that bicycle is complete toast. Is Lance gonna have to run things 'til you're street worthy again?"

Johnny's body turned red again in an instant and Brian stepped back against the side of his car when the man's arms literally turned to fire. Flames shot across the street toward the two newcomers but the mousy man jolted and threw his hands up, creating a nearly invisible green shield around them. The fire hit it and sent sparks off to the side, causing a few of Johnny's fellow bikers to hurriedly move their bikes out of the line of fire.

The woman popped her gum and smiled like she owned the world. "Remember, Tran. This ain't your city." Her smile vanished. "Mayor hears you've been harassing visitors again, might be the last night you spend here. Got it?"

Johnny pulled the fire back and it reformed into his flesh and blood arms. He looked livid, but after a few moments he managed to control his breathing and nod. He glanced from Brian to the woman and said, still glaring, "Got it."

Without a word, he moved over and climbed on Lance's bike. Lance got on behind him and the girl from Johnny's bike climbed on with the man she was standing next to. Johnny waved his hand in a circle to his fellow riders and then they were speeding away out of sight.

Brian turned to the two remaining people on the street with him. "Hey, thanks."

The woman popped her gum again and frowned at him over her sunglasses. "Who exactly are you?" she asked. "Picking a fight with Johnny Tran. You must be outta your mind."

Frowning, Brian said, "I was minding my own business. It was him that was picking the fight."

"That didn't answer my question."

They stared at each other for a few moments before Brian answered. "Brian Spilner," he introduced. "You?" he asked, though he recognized them already.

"Letty," she responded, then motioned to the man behind her. "That's Jesse. What's a reg like you doing in Torettown anyway?"

Brian frowned deeper. "I'm not a reg. I'm a mutant, and I'm just looking for a place to stay." He glanced around. "Was supposed to start my new job today, but that girl's got me all turned around." He sighed. "I have _no_ idea where I am anymore."

Jesse bounced up next to Letty. "I think Dom'd be interested to meet him."

Letty smirked. "Yeah. Let's get him checked out."

Brian had to control himself. A meeting with Dom? Dominic Toretto? He hadn't thought he'd get a chance like this so soon into entering Torettown. He'd thought it would take weeks to get close to the Big Man on Campus. Brian had to correct his earlier thoughts. Getting out of his car might've been the best thing he'd ever done.

Letty walked over to, and then past, Brian to place her hands on the driver's side door. "Besides, I wanna drive his car."

…

…

They found 'Dom' at a place called DT's Diner and Garage. The front was a quaint mom-and-pop type diner with no doors, like a lunch counter mixed with a mini-mart. The back was a four door garage with ample parking and work space.

There was a girl behind the counter with long, dark hair and matching eyes. Brian recognized her as Mia Toretto, the other of the famous Toretto siblings of Torettown. Her face made the news every time her brother's face or the city did. She looked up as the Eclipse zipped in and parked, and raised an eyebrow when Letty got out of the driver's seat. Letty shrugged with an unapologetic smile and walked up to the counter.

"Dom out back?" she asked.

"Yeah." Mia's eyes trailed beyond Letty to land on Brian as he stepped into the store behind Letty but before Jesse. She tilted her head at him and he tried not to shift anxiously on his feet.

Letty noticed the look and how it made Brian uncomfortable, but she seemed in no hurry to save him from the scrutiny. The corners of her lips lifted just a bit, causing Brian's skin to prickle with tension. "Jess, go get Dom."

Jesse scurried off to do as told, leaving Brian with the two ladies.

"Who are you?" Mia asked curiously. Her lean forearms were lazily resting on her bare hip bones as she took in the sight of him, this newcomer to what almost amounted as her city.

Brian lowered his chin. "Brian Spilner." He noticed her eyes narrow and did his best not to hunch his shoulders. Sure, he had his secrets, but he didn't need to act like it.

At that moment, a bald, muscled man entered the store through the back door, followed by Jesse. Instantly, Brian's back straightened out and he sucked in a sudden breath. This was Dominic Toretto, the King of the Road. He was heir to Torettown but had turned it over to a cousin so that he could run the diner and garage with his sister. Everyone knew that he was the real ruler of the city though. Nothing happened in Torettown without Dominic Toretto knowing about it. If you pissed off Dominic, you had no chance in Torettown.

Or that's what the rumors said.

In the shadow of Dominic's intense reputation, Brian squared his shoulders to seem bigger. He was taller than Dominic, he realized, but not by much, and the other man's muscles more than made up for his height. In fact, his mere presence made him seem like the biggest man Brian had ever met.

Dominic stepped around the counter, on the opposite side of his sister from Letty, and gave Brian a once over. "Jess says you found a stray." He glanced at Letty before looking back at Brian. "Who is he?"

"Brian Spilner," Mia said, leaning on the counter. She flicked her eyes between Brian and the others quickly, almost carelessly.

"Johnny Tran and the gang were hasslin' the reg, so we stepped in," Letty informed Dominic.

Brian frowned. "I told you, I'm not a reg."

Dominic crossed his arms over his chest, making his muscles look even bigger. He seemed to take up more space just with that simple movement. "You look pretty regular to me. And the only regular people allowed in Torettown are family."

Hands clenched at his sides, Brian did his best not to growl. Dominic took note of the reaction and looked at his sister. She just shrugged.

"He's different," she said lightly. "There's something about him I can't place, but he's not a reg and his heart's good. He's…like a cat," she continued with a playful smirk. "Touch him wrong and he might bite."

Letty rolled her eyes. "Touch anyone wrong and they'll bite," she said. Mia simply shrugged once more and stood up straight again.

Pulsing music and a rumbling engine announced the arrival of another vehicle. When the engine cut out, a tanned man with tattoos and a beard stepped out of a Nissan Maxima and regarded the group with suspicion. Brian recognized him as Dominic's right hand, Vincent.

"Where's Leon?" he grunted.

"Here."

Brian jolted and looked at where a tall, pale man was standing next to Jesse. Was Leon a teleporter? Or a speedster? When had he arrived?

Jesse and Leon looked amused at his shock so Brian turned his back on them again, focusing on the new arrival and Dominic.

"Who's this?" Vincent asked, and it seemed 'angry' was his default expression. He stalked forward into Brian's space but Brian didn't back down even though he was the shorter, thinner of the two.

"Spilner," Dominic said. "Mia says he's good."

The taller guy scoffed. "Looks like a rat." He looked over Brian's shoulder. "Hey, Mia."

"Hey, Vince."

Dominic visibly restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "What brings you to town, Brian Spilner?"

Brian turned away from Vince immediately, dismissing whatever threat the other man could have presented. "I already told these two," he said with a wave toward Letty and then toward Jesse. "I just want a place to stay. I don't like hiding."

With the way mutants were treated outside of Torettown – with suspicion, violence, hatred, discrimination, fear – it was obvious that all those gathered understood the feeling. A few of them shifted from foot to foot or crossed their arms and looked to Dominic.

Dominic gave a nod. "What's your mutation?" he asked.

Since he'd been expecting the questionnaire at some point, Brian was quick to answer. "A friend of mine used to call me a chameleon. I can mimic the people I'm around – skills, jobs, accents, the way they walk even – without even thinking about it or seeing them do it."

Though Dominic was the one to raise his eyebrow, Vince was the one to speak. "Prove it."

Brian took a deep breath. Something about Vince just made him angry. "Unless you want me to take apart your car and put it back together," he nodded at Jesse, "or beat you half to death," he turned to face Vince and crossed his arms, "then there's not much I can do at the moment."

"That wouldn't prove shit anyway," Vince shot back. "How would we know if you already knew how to customize a car or fight? I think you're a liar. I think you're a reg that couldn't take me in a fight if your puny life depended on it."

Vince's hackles were raised. Brian felt much the same but he made sure to simmer rather than boil over. He was the picture of controlled force, someone you didn't want to mess with, a violence just waiting to be triggered.

"You sure know how to ask for a beating, dontcha?" Brian asked, narrowing his eyes. He stepped into Vince's space and he didn't seem shorter than him at all. In fact, he seemed like the biggest man in the room. His presence eclipsed Vince's. His quiet but lethal voice more forceful than Vince's near shout. "You really want to test me? Huh?"

Vince backed off like a scolded pup but glared again once he was out of arm's reach. Brian uncrossed his arms and the tension in the diner ebbed away. Dominic uncrossed his arms as well and took a step forward, pulling all attention back to him. He was once again the commanding presence in the group.

"Where were you headed?" he asked, tone almost in the range of friendly.

"The Racer's Edge," Brian said, voice a casual tone once more. "I was supposed to start this morning. Harry's also renting me a room."

Dominic nodded to Leon and the unassuming man stepped forward. "Lead him to Harry's, would you?"

Leon nodded and left around the side of the diner and out of view. Noting that Dominic seemed to have given his approval, Jesse and Letty headed out through the back door of the diner with Vince shortly behind them. Brian noticed that Mia was still eyeing him curiously and gave her a friendly smile. She smiled back.

"Not many people can make Vince back down from a fight," she noted, turning toward the cash register even though no transactions had been made. "In fact, only Dom's ever managed it before."

She winked at him and Brian didn't know how to respond to that. He looked to her older brother, but Dominic was looking at Brian's car rather than at him and was no help.

…

…

Getting used to Torettown was easier than Brian had expected. Easier than a lot of places he'd had to acclimate to in the past. Harry had been true to his word and given Brian a room out back of The Racer's Edge to stay in. The hours he worked in the shop were minimal and gave Brian plenty of time to scope out the city and get to know its ins and outs. He'd already mapped out most of it in his head and only gave cursory glances to the directions he was given whenever he had to make a delivery.

The only weird part was all the mutants. Brian had never been surrounded by mutants the way he was now. Even growing up in Barstow, mutants only stayed for a maximum of twenty-four hours before hightailing it out again.

Only three days into his stay in Torettown, Brian pulled his red The Racer's Edge truck back into the shop, hopped out, and was immediately approached by the shop owner, Harry.

"What, got another delivery for me to do already? How am I gonna get any work done if you keep giving me work?" Brian joked with a smirk.

Harry shook his head. "No, kid. No delivery." He didn't look happy, his middle-aged face forming deep wrinkles around his mouth. It looked like he'd run his hands through his hair a few too many times as well.

Brian's smirk vanished and stomach felt empty. Was he being fired already? Had he done something wrong? "What's the matter, Harry?"

The older man sighed. "You're either doing something very wrong or very right," he said. "Dominic Toretto's invited you to the street races tomorrow night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 2**
> 
> Jesse shoveled a forkful of tuna into his mouth and then froze with the metal still between his lips.
> 
> Multicolored sparks littered the air just as Jesse was opening his mouth to respond, and then a booming voice called, "Alright alright! If you in it, get in it! Let's see some fireworks tonight, people!"
> 
> Now Brian gave Dominic a look of disbelief. "You're not the mayor, Toretto."
> 
> "You shouldn't believe everything you hear," Dominic said with a slight upturn of his lips. "Sometimes it's what you don't hear that's really important."
> 
> "Everybody's hiding something," Brian countered smoothly.


	2. Chapter 2

Pulling up to the street races the next night, Brian's car was immediately engulfed by the sea of spectators amassing for the event. Some were actually looking at his car, others were just trying to get around him, and some just happened to be in the way. He parked to the side like the other cars gathered and stepped out, glancing around for Dominic or Mia or any of the gang he'd seen at the diner. His eyes flicked over dozens of faces before he saw someone familiar.

"Jesse, right?" he asked as the shorter man came up to him.

Jesse was inspecting the Eclipse and it looked like he could see right through the paint and the body to the individual parts within. He nodded after Brian's question but it was unclear if he was answering the question or something in his own brain. He popped the hood without waiting for Brian's permission.

"Full Robo Car Aero Armor Eclipse Body Kit, carbon fiber front splitter, GT style roof scoop," Jesse rattled off, respect in his voice. "Carbon fiber mirrors-"

"1997 Spec Eclipse headlights," Brian broke in, making Jesse jump. "It's also got a 420a 16-valve dual overhead cam 2-Liter 4-cylinder engine and an APR two level GT2 style wing."

Jesse whistled. "Nice piece of work." He shrugged. "Figured you stood a chance if you could drive as well as you customize."

Brian frowned just a bit. "So…you invited me to the race?" Harry had said it was Dominic.

"Nah. That was all Dom. He just asked my opinion, so I gave it." Jesse leaned against the side of the car. "How's Harry's?"

A burst of fire to the side had Brian flinching away from the heat, but it was just some newly licensed teen trying to impress the older mutants with a few fireballs. They were laughing at his scorched eyebrows. A girl touched his head and his hair grew so long they could have hogtied him with it, causing more laughter, even from the teen himself.

"Good enough," Brian answered, still watching the group. "I do deliveries all over town, and the pay's not bad. And I can get parts on discount." Turning his eyes back to Jesse, he asked, "Hey, how come street racing's a thing? I thought Torettown was real big on everything being legal."

Multicolored sparks littered the air just as Jesse was opening his mouth to respond, and then a booming voice called "Alright alright! If you in it, get in it! Let's see some fireworks tonight, people!"

Jesse smiled. "All the luck to you," he said before scuttling away into the crowd.

"I don't need luck," Brian called after him with a matching smile.

"You'd better be able to back up that mouth."

Brian flipped around just as Leon pushed off the side of the Eclipse and began following Jesse into the crowd. Seriously, how did he keep doing that?

Brian caught sight of Dominic when he pulled up beside the older man at the starting line. Brian was racing two other guys and one of them happened to be the King of the Road. A quick glance at the other driver proved he was no one important, at least not to Brian.

"Ready to eat asphalt?" Brian jibed.

Dominic just stared evenly at him for a moment before facing forward. The guy on Dominic's other side flicked Brian off before doing the same. Brian laughed just as a woman with a racing flag stepped up between his and Dominic's cars. She glanced at all three drivers, then gave a saucy smile and held the flag up. When she pulled her hands down, the flag stayed in place.

"Ready!" she called out, pointing at the third driver. "Set!" She pointed at Brian. "Go!"

The flag waved along with her word, signaling the start of the race, and they were off.

Brian floored it for most of the race, barely paying attention as he switched gears and heard the grind of the engine. Most of his attention was on Dominic, pulling ahead and leaving them in the dust. It only took fourteen seconds from start to finish, but Brian managed to go from trailing in last to barely second before another floating flag waved Dominic through the finish line.

Adrenaline still spiking from the speed and the power of the race, Brian jumped out of his car and gave Dominic's flat expression a beaming smile. He hadn't felt that genuinely alive in years. It was pulse-pounding. It was electric. It was addicting. He loved it.

"What're you smiling about?" Dominic asked, frown evident in his voice.

"One more time, bro," Brian said, holding up a finger. "One more time and I'll have you."

"Buster," someone coughed in the crowd of onlookers.

Dominic looked like he didn't know whether to be disappointed by Brian's driving skills or impressed by his gall. He held his hands up.

"You wanna go again? It ain't gonna be against me, but I'm sure there are plenty of people here willing to take your money," he offered.

Brian didn't have the money to enter another race – the first one had been on the house, according to Harry – but he did have his car. An innate need to prove something to Dominic had him betting the Eclipse against several thousand from two other racers. Brian had more important things to be doing with his time than street racing, but he pushed that to the back of his mind as he hopped into the driver's seat again and got set up at the racing line.

Hector and his boy didn't know what hit them. Brian toasted them in twelve seconds. Smooth shifts and pure glide the whole quarter mile, and he didn't even have to think about it. When he hopped out of his car that time, the murmurs in the crowd echoed what Brian already knew to be true.

"He drove just like Dom."

Dominic himself had his arms crossed when Brian joined him after collecting the winnings. Another race was getting set up but they paid it no mind.

"A mimic, huh?" Dominic said. Brian just grinned without a word. "The day you can beat me without using some special power, _then_ I'll be impressed."

Brian nodded. "I'll be sure to take you up on that sometime." The engines of the racers revved and then they tore off down the street. "Hey, why're there no cops breaking this up?"

"Hard to tell the mayor that his favorite hobby's illegal."

Now Brian gave Dominic a look of disbelief. "You're not the mayor, Toretto."

"Close enough." Dominic grinned. "Alright, Buster, I suppose you've earned a spot at the after party." He nodded away and then headed for his Charger, knowing Brian would follow.

…

…

Two hours later found Brian sitting halfway up the stairs in the Toretto house with a beer in his hand, watching the party going on below and narrowly avoiding being stepped on by people stumbling up and down the stairs.

Vince had a lady on either side of him, a beer in his hand, and several empty bottles underneath the chair he was seated on. As Brian watched, one of the ladies caressed Vince's cheek and the bottle in his hand shattered in his grip. They laughed over it and someone brought him a new drink. Super strength then, Brian noted.

Leon kept appearing around the room. Brian would catch him chatting with some guys, then he'd turn to walk away and Brian would lose sight of him. A few minutes later he'd catch Leon handing out drinks to people or kissing someone or eating some chips. Brian had tried as hard as he could to follow Leon through a crowd, but it was like he vanished as soon as he brushed shoulders with people. Brian still wasn't sure if it was teleportation or turning to shadows or blending or what, but it was reliable.

He didn't need to watch Jesse to know what his gift was. He'd seen it first hand in the incident with Johnny Tran. Jesse could make shields. He didn't make one when he tripped over a chair leg and went crashing into the movie cases or when someone got upset with what was on the TV and threw their beer, barely missing Jesse's face, but Brian knew he could if he really felt the situation called for it.

Letty had said something about lightning to Johnny, and she'd been flexing her fingers, so it was likely that she could shoot electricity from her fingers. Whether she could do it without the use of her hands was still up in the air, and how much control she had was a mystery, but she'd burned out that bike without harming the girl sitting on it so Brian could make an educated guess that Letty was pretty skilled with her mutation.

Speaking of Letty, she'd disappeared with Dominic out the back door several minutes ago and Brian hadn't seen either of them since.

Dominic Toretto. Brian should know more about him than anyone in this room, but he felt totally blind. Rumors said he was the King of the Road, and that appeared to be true. They also had widely differing claims to what his power was. He was a juggernaut. He could turn to metal. He shot lasers from his eyes. He was a technopath. The more rumors you heard, the more outrageous they got. They said he got Torettown made legal by killing a bunch of cops with his mind and in that way made a hostage of every regular human unless the mutant run area of L.A. got to be its own town and have all the perks that came with that – like being out of the jurisdiction of the non-mutant police.

That last one was easy enough to disprove. Brian had been hearing about Torettown since he was a kid. As he'd heard it then, Dominic's great grandfather started taking in mutants, protecting them from mutant hating cops and citizens alike and forming a sort of extended family. The idea persisted with his grandfather as well, but it was Dominic's father that went into talks with the city of L.A. and the state of California to make Torettown a real city. Most of the people living there were mutants or family of mutants by that point anyway, so not much changed except it now existed on a map.

Mia was another anomaly. She seemed to be able to tell when Brian was hiding something, but she didn't call him out on it directly. So was she like a human lie detector or could she hear his heartbeat? Or was it something else?

As if summoned by his thoughts, Mia stepped down the stairs and seated herself next to Brian. Now no one could get up or down the stairs without stepping on them, but stair traffic had slowed for the time being so Brian wasn't concerned.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hi," he answered.

She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "You don't seem to be enjoying the party."

Brian shrugged. "It's not that. I'm just…watching."

"With all that big talk before, _just watching_ doesn't seem your style," she teased, getting him to smile. "Come on, what's on your mind?"

"What's your mutation?" Brian asked. Straightforward tended to work for him.

Mia turned to lean against the wall on the other side of the stairs and face him. "I don't know that there's a real name for it. I've always called it my special insight." She shrugged against the wall. "I can look at a person, any person, and I just…I know how good or bad they are. I can tell if they've done something terrible, if they've got good intentions, if they're hiding something." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Everybody's hiding something, Mia," Brian countered smoothly.

She relaxed. "I know. But my brother's like gravity, and people don't keep secrets around him. Usually because he'll figure it out anyway," she added with a roll of her eyes. "So our family doesn't hide. We don't have to. Still, I can tell. I can tell you're a good person, so I'll let you keep your secrets. For now." She smirked.

Brian chuckled. "Gee, thanks." He took a swig from his beer and glanced back down at the party.

Mia just watched him for about a minute, letting the relative quiet of the upstairs mingle around them with the noise from the downstairs. One of the racer girls jumped over them on her way down from the second bathroom, but otherwise they were practically alone.

"What brings you here, Brian?"

It took a moment for Brian to pull his eyes from the sight of a girl with cat ears and whiskers kissing a girl with a lizard's tongue. He shook his head, dispelling the phantom feel of a scaly tongue in his mouth, and turned back to the younger Toretto.

"Sorry?"

She gave him an indulgent look. "Why did you leave your home and come to Torettown?"

"Oh." He glanced down at his nearly empty beer for a moment. "I guess it was never really home. I mean, I grew up there, but I always had to hide what I was. I only had one friend, but then we grew up and apart, so I had no ties there. I've been moving around since I was twenty-one, doing whatever needed to be done, hiding who I am." He looked Mia in the eyes, warm brown meeting electric blue. "I guess I was looking for some place where I didn't have to hide, where I could stop and breathe for awhile."

Mia had that look on her face again, like she was curious and studying him, like she could see right through him to all the messed up pieces inside. Brian wondered if her gift was constant or if she had to concentrate for it to work, like Rome's did back in Barstow.

Finally, Mia let out a soft breath and seemed to sink further into the wall. "It'll be a sad day when you leave," she said almost wistfully. She sat up. "My brother likes you, ya know. He doesn't really _like_ anyone."

Brian gave a half shrug. "I think he's more suspicious."

"Vince is suspicious," Mia corrected. "Letty, Jesse, Leon. They're suspicious. Dom trusts you and he likes you."

"Why would he trust me?" Brian asked, baffled. "He's only met me twice."

Now Mia looked smug. "Because he trusts me, and I like you too." She slapped his leg lightly. "Now come on. Get another beer and actually enjoy the party."

Smiling, Brian stood with her and let her lead him by the wrist down into the crowd below.

…

…

_Ring Ring. Ring Ring._

"Hello?" Brian answered, pulling his sneakers on as he held the phone between his ear and his shoulder. He'd just finished his shift at Harry's and was changing into something more comfortable before he went looking around town again.

"Six o'clock at the Toretto house," Letty's voice said. "Better not be late, Buster."

Brian paused in tying his shoe to check his phone after she hung up. How had Letty gotten his number? Harry probably gave it to her. Or to Dominic, who gave it to her. Brian added the number to his contacts, then his eyes landed on the time. Five fifty.

"Shit." He hurriedly tied his shoe, stuffed his phone in his pocket, grabbed his wallet and keys, and rushed out the door.

…

…

The Eclipse pulled up to the Toretto house for the second time in as many days at six o'clock on the dot. Letty clapped from her place at the front door, obviously laughing at him without a sound leaving her mouth.

"Nice job," she complimented with that same laughing expression.

Brian did his best to not look like he'd rushed over. "So what's up?"

"Dinner's up," she told him before flipping around and heading inside. "Buster made it!"

Brian got the impression he was gonna get tired of that nickname real fast.

Vince, Leon, Jesse, Mia, and Dominic were already there and they gave welcoming waves and calls when they saw him – except for Vince, who nearly turned and left except that Leon caught him by the arm, forced him into the recliner, and handed him a beer.

"Great, he can make the tuna instead," Jesse cheered. He purposefully turned away, looking far too innocent to not know that Mia was glaring at him.

Curious, Brian met Mia at the doorway to the kitchen. She handed him a can of tuna and then waved at the kitchen. "Have at it, Buster," she said with a tease and a wink before moving to sit in the living room with Letty and the boys.

Dominic was in the kitchen, finishing up what looked like pasta. He didn't greet Brian or move, just let Brian wander the kitchen searching for ingredients. Even without Dominic looking up from what he was doing, Brian would swear the other man's eyes were on him. Brian glanced over a few times while he mixed things together, but Dominic was never looking in his direction.

"Thanks for inviting me," Brian said when Dominic turned off the stove and moved to drain the noodles.

"Don't mention it," Dominic responded. His voice was somehow softer than before, none of the gruff machismo in it that asserted his dominance over any other racer or competitor in his city. This must be the way he spoke when around friends and family only, Brian realized, and his stomach flipped.

They brought the tuna salad and the garlic sauce pasta out to the table, where way too many chairs had been squished in to fit around it, and then took the available seats. Dominic took a serving first and then the plates were passed around clockwise until Brian had some. It was much cozier than Brian had ever imagined it would be. Jesse shoveled a forkful of tuna into his mouth and then froze with the metal still between his lips.

"First bite says grace!" Leon said with a grin.

Jesse nodded and swallowed the tuna, looking a bit off balance. He dropped his fork to his plate with a clatter and clasped his hands to pray.

"Uh, Thank you, Lord, for…uh…family dinner night and…cars and street racing…and I pray we keep sticking it to the regs, and…uh…that this tuna don't kill me. Amen," he said, rushing the last bit.

Brian frowned, confused, along with everyone else as they echoed the 'amen.' Was there something wrong with the tuna? He scooped up a forkful himself and ate it. It wasn't good, that was for sure. It tasted more like pickles and mustard than tuna. Brian almost spit it out but controlled himself. Sure, he hadn't been paying attention when he made it, but he'd made tuna before and it never tasted like this.

Lifting his eyes from the strange concoction on his plate that _looked_ like tuna but didn't taste like it, Brian saw the others quickly look away.

"Mia, I thought the _buster_ was supposed to make the tuna," Vince grumbled.

"I did," Brian said, though he sounded surprised even to himself.

Vince and the others looked at Dominic, who nodded, munching away on the tuna like it tasted fine. Brian lifted an eyebrow at him. How could he not even flinch? It was the worst tuna Brian had ever made in his life!

"I can remake it," Brian offered, already putting his silverware down and reaching for the bowl.

Dominic's hand wrapped around his wrist and even Brian's breath stopped for a moment.

"Leave it," the shorter man said. "It's fine." Brian's expression clearly argued for him because Dominic gave a one armed shrug before releasing him and continuing, "They should've known better than to ask a chameleon to make Mia's tuna." It almost sounded like a tease, and he definitely smirked at the rest of the people around the table. "Eat up, fellas. We don't waste food in this house."

…

…

Brian found Dominic sitting outside in the backyard ten minutes after the rest of the group had gone home and he'd finished helping Mia clean the dishes. Dominic was staring at the garage where his Charger was locked up tight for the night, and barely glanced at Brian when he sat down in the second lawn chair with a beer in each hand.

"When did your gift start?"

Dominic's voice broke the quiet of the night, but it wasn't a startling noise.

Brian looked at Dominic's profile as he spoke. "I was nine," he said. "My mom…She used to work long hours. I started cooking all her old recipes so dinner was ready when she got home. At first I thought I just remembered them from her cooking them, and then I realized I was cooking whenever I got even slightly stressed out. That was also something she did." He shrugged. "I really knew when I was twelve and my buddy Rome crashed this car, didn't even own the damn thing. His dad owned this shitty mechanic shop and we used to hang out there all the time when we were kids. I fixed the car before Rome could work up a proper panic about it."

Dominic chuckled. "Handy."

"Yeah, I guess." He leaned forward in his chair to be closer to Dominic. "What's your gift?"

Silence reigned. Brian stared at Dominic and Dominic stared at the garage. Brian began to worry he'd crossed some line, that no one was meant to ask him that question. Maybe all the rumors were false. Maybe Dominic Toretto was a regular human living in a mutant city, tied down by family expectation.

"I was ten," Dominic said, and this time it did startle Brian, "helping my dad fix up an old Charger. I cut my arm from wrist to elbow, with a set of pliers." He chuckled low in his throat at the irony and the sound made Brian want to laugh too, though he didn't. "I got blood in the toolbox, my dad was yelling for my mother to get the first aid kit, but I didn't need it."

Dominic ran his right hand down his blemish-free left arm slowly, like he could see where the cut used to be.

"A healer," Brian said, and Dominic lifted his eyes. "Now that's one I haven't heard a rumor about."

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," Dominic said with a slight upturn of his lips. "Sometimes it's what you don't hear that's really important."

Brian nodded and finally handed Dominic one of the beers, then popped the cap off his own and took a long swig.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview for Chapter 3**
> 
> Suddenly Brian found himself on his back on the ground and unsure how he got there. Vince got on top of him and threw a punch that Brian barely ducked out of the way of.
> 
> "Just cause he's a cop don't mean you gotta beat on him."
> 
> It wasn't often someone did stuff like that for Brian, not since Rome went to prison when they were nineteen, and it made strange things happen in Brian's stomach.
> 
> Harry scratched his head and shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. It's a good deal. I'd look stupid if I turned it down. You would too," he said, pointing at Brian and nearly poking him in the chest.
> 
> Brian frowned. "It ain't about the money, Harry. You know that's not why I'm here."
> 
> Brian let out a sound from his throat that was too angry, making Mia actually flinch.
> 
> "So what exactly am I meant to be doing then, if not fixing cars or making food?" he asked, grinning as he finished.
> 
> Dom's hand gripped the bottom of Brian's shirt and began to tug upward.


	3. Chapter 3

After that Thursday Family Dinner, Brian was invited back for Sunday BBQ. And then for Tuesday Family Dinner. While the family dinners were limited to Dom, Mia, Vince, Letty, Jesse, and Leon, Sunday's BBQ had included mutants from all over Torettown. It had taken Jesse literally dragging Brian from the corner of the room to get him to actually socialize with them instead of just watch them, categorizing their abilities and making mental files.

Vince continually asked Brian to mimic the guests – dance like Jesus and Keith, climb like Heather, do gymnastics like Lorraine, lick your elbow like Dejoun, speak with a Russian accent like Anatoly or a New York accent like Mike, skateboard like Sarah, do magic tricks like Gisele. Letty punched him in the throat before Brian could and told him to "grow the hell up." Brian might have fallen just a little bit in love and brought her a drink.

Of the two types of meals, Brian much preferred the family dinners. And when he wasn't eating dinner with the Torettos, Brian was working at Harry's or hitting the streets and learning the names and faces of the people who lived in Torettown. Several of them recognized him from his races the previous week or from Sunday's chaotic meal, but every day Brian was seeing new faces and new abilities he'd never considered a person could have before – like photosynthesis instead of eating typical food or the ability to change the color of wet paint just by touching it.

After Tuesday's dinner, Brian found himself spending even more time with the Toretto team in a more professional sense.

"It's like a loaner program," Harry said Wednesday morning. "You work here some times and you work there some times. Dom'll pay you for the time you put in over there and I'll pay you for here, which makes your rent easier to bear. Dom pays more too, so you'll get extra cash in your wallet."

Brian frowned. "It ain't about the money, Harry. You know that's not why I'm here."

Harry scratched his head and shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. It's a good deal. I'd look stupid if I turned it down. You would too," he said, pointing at Brian and nearly poking him in the chest. "Besides, this'll get you in with the Toretto family, and they know anybody who's worth knowing."

With a huff, Brian grabbed the keys to his car – not the Racer's Edge truck – and said, "I think I'm already in, but okay."

It wasn't like hanging out with the Toretto team was a hardship, after all. They were like a weird, somewhat dysfunctional family. And even with the stress of Sunday's lunch, the way people were drawn to them was nice. Being around them felt like being a part of something special. Brian would take what he could get of that, paid job or not.

…

…

"Hey, bro," Jesse greeted when Brian dropped into the seat next to him.

"Hey, Jesse," Brian responded, glancing between Jesse and the computers around him.

Across the room, Vince, Letty, and Leon were working on cars that had been brought in to the shop for repairs. When he arrived, Brian had been sure they'd put him on repair duty too, but Vince had quickly shoved him in Jesse's direction instead.

Jesse nodded. "You're on that one," he said, waving toward the computer closest to Brian. "See, fixin' cars and makin' food is part of what we do, but we're like…a multey-multi-….a multifaceted company. Of seven people." He blinked once, slowly, and then shook his head.

Brian rolled his chair up to the computer he'd been 'assigned' and grabbed the mouse, shaking it to wake it up. "So what exactly am I meant to be doing then, if not fixing cars or making food?" he asked, grinning as he finished.

The younger male shook his head again, this time like he was laughing at Brian, and then cracked his knuckles. "You're gonna help me design. I'm on cars. You're on buildings."

Brian narrowed his eyes, confused. "Buildings?"

A nod. "Yeah. Better design for a youth center downtown and all that shit or whatever. You know how to use this program?" he asked, a challenge in his eyes.

"No," Brian admitted, meeting that challenge. "But you do."

With a small laugh, Jesse turned to his computer. The two men met gazes for a brief moment once more, then turned and began typing and clicking and designing like it was a race. Within a minute, Brian knew where all the buttons were and what they did, or could do if finagled just right. He caught Jesse looking over at him every minute or so but didn't look back. If Jesse wanted to waste time checking on him, that was fine, but a race was a race and Brian didn't take his eyes off the road for just any distraction. So focused on his task, Brian hardly noticed what Jesse or the others were doing, and only gave a slight interest in Jesse taking a ten minute break an hour in. He felt like a computer whiz, a designing prodigy, and that was more important at the moment than people.

Designing the façade of the building turned out to be the easy part. Divvying up the interior space was more difficult. Brian scrapped three ideas before landing one that would use green roof technology and cut down on electricity usage yet be varied enough to allow for mutants of a multitude of powers to enjoy themselves without needing to hold back so much. He had just finished drawing up the bare basics of a kitchen when he felt a headache kick in.

A minute or so later, as he was choosing a stove to put in the mock up, his stomach gave a twinge and Brian began to wonder if he should take a break, look away from the computer and go get a snack. But he'd only eaten breakfast a few hours ago, and he'd eaten chips and drank a soda on the way over to the DT Diner and Garage. He shouldn't be hungry yet. It'd only been two hours. The more his stomach gently insisted he get food the more aggravated Brian got.

He realized he was slamming the buttons on the keyboard instead of clicking them and froze mid program command. Brian just stared at the computer screen, at the half finished kitchen pictured there, for a good three seconds, then he laid his face in his hands and let out a heavy sigh.

"Hey, Jess," he said, sitting up and clearing his throat, "think I'm gonna take a break for a bit."

Jesse didn't respond, too caught up in designing what was turning out to be a truly sick looking car, but Brian was already pushing out of his seat and walking away anyway.

Brian walked along the far wall of the garage, opposite the open bay doors and the cars that the team was working on, until he reached the door that led to the diner. Pushing it open revealed the back of the counter and Mia Toretto making a mean grilled cheese with ham for a lady standing at the edge of the shade at the store front. She looked up when the door opened and smiled.

"Hey, Brian," she said.

Brian gave a wave without a word and walked around the counter toward the mini-market part of the diner. It didn't take him long to find the gum section. Grabbing a pack, Brian walked up to the cash register, where Mia was now checking out her customer and wishing her a good day.

"I need this," Brian said once they were alone, passing over the gum at the same time he pulled out his wallet.

Mia looked from Brian to the gum curiously. "Trident Watermelon Twist. Hm. I pegged you for a Passionberry guy myself," she said.

Brian let out a sound from his throat that was too angry, making Mia actually flinch. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Brian said, "Just tell me how much I owe you. Please."

"Don't worry about it." When Brian met her eyes, Mia held the gum back out to him. "It's gum. We can handle it. What's wrong?"

Hands shaking just a bit, Brian unwrapped the gum and threw it in his mouth. He chewed for a few seconds, until the gum was soft and he felt less like he was coming out of his skin, then let out a long, content breath.

"An old habit trying to make a comeback," he told her at last.

Mia frowned. "Chewing gum?"

Brian shook his head. "No. But chewing gum won't give me cancer, so I'll take it any day."

"How long were you a smoker?"

Both Mia and Brian jumped at Dom's deep voice, looking over to find the older Toretto leaving his office, a set of keys in his hand that weren't his.

He and Brian stared at each other for several long moments, Brian finding it hard to remember to chew his gum in the face of Dom's attention.

"Three years," he said at length. "A bad habit I picked up when I was…running with a different crowd. I thought I kicked it, forcing myself to forget it instead of remember it, but I guess not." He shrugged and popped his gum in a way reminiscent of Letty the first day he met her.

Mia blinked. "Jesse," she said. "Jesse's a smoker."

It took a second, but Brian realized she meant that he was picking up a new habit instead of reliving an old one. That would be preferable, as ignoring a mimic was easier than kicking an addiction. Given how fast the irritability and shaking had gone away, he'd bet she was right.

Brian smiled. "Yeah. Guess I wasn't prepared for that."

"Come on," Dom called, heading for the garage door. "You can help the others fix a car, avoid the temptation."

Brian appreciated the gesture, that Dom cared enough about some guy he'd technically just met to keep him out of a problematic situation. It wasn't often someone did stuff like that for Brian, not since Rome went to prison when they were nineteen, and it made strange things happen in Brian's stomach.

As they reentered the garage, Brian asked, "Whose keys are those?"

Dom nodded to a gentleman standing by a green Cadillac DeVille in the parking lot. Brian vaguely remembered that Letty had been working on it when he came in today, but most of his brain was taken up with memories of building design.

"Got in a fender bender with a Coupe," Dom explained, looking at Brian and lifting an eyebrow.

Brian chuckled. "That's a shame." That got him a small smile from Dom, so Brian smiled too.

Dom walked over to the gentleman to hand him back his keys and Brian followed, hands stuffed in his pockets. As they stopped in front of the man, Brian got a strange feeling. This man, with his thin blonde hair and brown eyes, collared shirt and jeans, had some sort of training. It wasn't fighting, not like karate or taekwondo, but there was something.

"Here you go, sir," Dom was saying, handing over the keys. "Try not to pick fights with nice cars from now on and you should be good." The tease in his voice wasn't the friendly kind he used with the team, but it wasn't outright mean either. Dom was good at treading the line between polite and hostile, Brian was learning.

The older gentleman smiled charmingly. "Thank you. I would've been embarrassed to go to work with that huge dent tomorrow."

"That's what we're here for," Dom replied. "Anything else?"

"As a matter of fact," the man said, trailing off as he nodded and reached back toward his back pocket with his free right hand.

Awareness flashed through Brian like a bolt of lightning and he was stepping forward even as the man pulled a handgun from behind him. Just as the muzzle leveled on Dom's vaguely surprised face, Brian grabbed the gun in the balls of his hands and shoved it up and to the side, simultaneously putting himself between Dom and the gentleman. He shoved the gun back and down, causing the man to shout in pain when his wrist bent at an odd angle. Brian pushed forward and kicked the man in the groin at the same time he twisted the gun, forcing the would-be attacker to let go and fall down with a loud groan. Brian wasted no time aiming the gun back on its owner, one hand holding the gun with his finger on the trigger and the other wrapped around the opposite side to keep it steady.

"What the hell's going on?" Letty asked, leading the others in the short run from the garage to where the Cadillac was parked.

Jesse saw the gun in Brian's hand and put his up as if he were the one it was aimed at, a cigarette between the fingers of his right hand. "Whoa. Dude had a gun."

Dom stepped to the side and looked at Brian's stiff expression. The movement shocked Brian into action and he quickly released the magazine and emptied the slide before tossing the pieces to either side of him, away from the group.

"He's a cop," Brian breathed out, looking down at the man still covering his groin in pain. He didn't need proof. He already knew. The way he held his gun, and the muscle memory Brian shouldn't have, was enough. Also the ugly car choice.

The man glared up at him. Brian stepped back from the swipe of an arm the man threw at him and then looked down at his own hands. He'd just disarmed a cop, probably an LAPD cop, in Torettown. It wasn't hard to imagine why a cop would try and shoot Dom – he was the unofficial heart of the city. Take him out and the system might collapse, prove all the mutant haters right, put an end to Torettown's protective measures for mutants. But why now?

"Fucking reg!"

Vince's angry yell pulled Brian from his thoughts just as the mutant rushed past him at the man on the ground. He landed a kick to the guy's stomach, making him grunt and cough.

"You think you can come in here and just shoot people?! Huh?!"

"Vince!" Leon shouted, but the bigger man didn't listen.

Another kick landed and then Vince was bending down to lift the cop to his feet, pulling his fist back for a punch. Dom grabbed the man by the shirt and pulled him away at the same time Brian grabbed Vince's wrist and pressed his thumb in, forcing him to let go of his target. He deflected the flying fist too, causing it to go wide.

Vince glared at him. "What, you're defending him now?!"

"Cut it out." Brian's eyebrows drew down as well, but his glare didn't have the heat Vince's did. "Just cause he's a cop don't mean you gotta beat on him."

A muscle pulsed in Vince's head and then his super strength was aimed at Brian instead of the cop. He threw a punch, which Brian dodged and returned with his own. Instead of throwing another punch, Vince got low and rammed into Brian, forcing him back and throwing him bodily into the side of the green Cadillac. Brian rolled over and then launched himself at Vince, wrapping his arms around the taller man's neck.

Vince punched him in the stomach and Brian nearly keeled over that instant. When he'd thought of super strength, he hadn't really imagined what that felt like. Planting his feet so Vince would have to fight to move him, Brian released Vince's neck with one arm and began punching him in the gut in return over and over again. He knew he didn't have super strength, but he wasn't exactly weak by normal standards. Though Vince grunted with each blow, he didn't seem anywhere near going down for the count.

Suddenly Brian found himself on his back on the ground and unsure how he got there. Vince got on top of him and threw a punch that Brian barely ducked out of the way of. If Vince had been aiming anywhere but his head, Brian would've been out of luck. Brian grabbed the arm now next to his head and twisted right at the elbow, making Vince shout and lean back, pulling his arm away from Brian.

"VINCE!" Mia's voice cut in. "Stop it!"

Brian was distracted for less than half a second but it was long enough for Vince's other fist to find his face. His head snapped back against the asphalt of the parking lot and then someone was ripping Vince up and off him. Instead of getting up, Brian lifted his hands to his face slowly. There were still stars in his eyes, but as he gingerly touched his face, nothing felt broken.

Vince must've been holding back.

"Auhg," he groaned. "Shit." Broken or not, the right side of his face hurt like a bitch and his stomach was still screaming at him from the earlier blow.

Strong hands grabbed Brian by the shoulders and lifted him up. Though his head spun for a moment from the quick movement, Brian managed to keep his footing and found himself face to face with Dom.

Always a man of quick wit, Brian managed, "Huh?"

The expression on Dom's face was akin to rage, but though he was looking at Brian, it wasn't aimed at him. Keeping one hand on Brian's shoulder – a support he was grateful for – Dom ordered, "Get the TPD down here for Mr. Keech and goddammit, Vince, get out of my sight before I lose it. You're embarrassing!"

Letty touched a hand to the gentleman's – Mr. Keech's – side and he jolted like Brian had seen people do when hit with a taser. Jesse was already on the phone with what Brian assumed was the Torettown Police Department, his beanie in his hand even as he ran said hand through his hair anxiously. Leon was standing between Vince and Brian, his back to Dom and Brian. He was speaking, but Brian couldn't hear what he was saying. He sounded angry though. Mia hurried around Vince to Brian and frowned when she saw his face.

"Come on. You're bleeding."

Dom led Brian behind Mia into the diner bathroom. In the mirror, Brian saw that Mia was right: his nose was bleeding. Mia handed him a towel and he used it to wipe the blood and sweat from his face. There was a bit of dirt and gravel in his blonde curls, but not enough to warrant a wash so he left it alone. Dom's hand gripped the bottom of Brian's shirt and began to tug upward.

"Hey, whoa," Brian said, grabbing Dom's hand with his own and meeting his eyes.

Dom rolled his eyes. "I need to check if he broke your ribs."

Feeling silly and with heated cheeks, Brian pulled his hands back and let Dom help him out of his shirt. Mia winced at the already forming bruise all along the left side of Brian's stomach.

"I'll get some ice. And some painkillers," she offered before hurrying from the room.

The bruise on his side didn't upset Brian as much as the swelling on his face did. He leaned closer to the mirror and inspected himself. His pupils weren't dilated, his vision wasn't blurry. He didn't feel nauseous or dizzy or tired. Other than the pain from the punch, his head didn't hurt. The ceiling light didn't hurt his eyes and he wasn't about to fall over. It was still a bit early to call, but Brian was mostly certain he didn't have a concussion.

Small miracles.

Warmth spread over the bruise on his stomach and Brian relaxed into it for a moment before actually looking at what caused it. Dom's hand rested gently on his side and his eyes were concerned when they met Brian's. Brian wasn't sure what to make of the unusually gentle expression on Dominic Toretto's face.

"I'll be okay," Brian said quietly, feeling that anything louder would break something between them.

Dom didn't look appeased. "You're a mimic," he said, voice just as quiet in the bathroom as Brian's. "Can you mimic other mutations?"

Not just talents or accents, could he reproduce another mutant's powers. Frankly, Brian was surprised it had taken this long for someone to ask.

He nodded. "It's harder." It wasn't something he was willing to try and prove to them, that was for sure, though he understood what Dom meant. Dom's healing ability would make these injuries vanish in seconds. "A lot harder. I don't unless I absolutely have to."

Seeming to understand Brian's hesitation, Dom just nodded once in acceptance and kept quiet. How he could possibly understand, Brian didn't know, but he was glad to let the subject drop anyway.

When Mia returned with two ice packs and a bottle of aspirin, Dom removed his hand from Brian's side. Even though heat was bad for bruises, Brian was sad to feel it go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview for Chapter 4**
> 
> Brian checked he had his gun on his belt, took a deep breath, and then moved to the nearest window with any light coming out and looked inside.
> 
> With a charming smile, Braga took the final step to be within arm's reach, then reached out to touch his neck, cupping his fingers around the back of his neck as if to pull him in closer.
> 
> Brian felt his blood sing with the change. His skin felt tingly.
> 
> Brian's knees hit the dirt and he cursed aloud. His pulse was too fast. All he had to do was get back to the car and he could go somewhere. Harry's. Dom's.
> 
> Dom might come searching for him even, which was touching but pointless. The Eclipse was parked out behind The Racer's Edge. Unless he broke in, Dom would have to assume Brian was home for the night.
> 
> "I'll tell you, just listen," he promised. Brian watched in interest as Braga's eyes turned purple. "You work for me. You don't steal from me. You don't talk to the police. Understand, hermano?"
> 
> Though he hadn't practiced the skill in three years, Brian had to fight the way his fingers twitched to reach for the ingredients for low grade cocaine. Drug runner.
> 
> "Yeah, hey, Mia, it's Brian."
> 
> When Mia answered, she didn't sound pleased. "Why do I get the feeling you're lying to me, Spilner?"


	4. Chapter 4

Work at Harry's was slow that day. One customer came in the morning to buy some NOS and another came in just before lunch to put in an order for a new tailpipe, but other than that it was just Harry, Brian, and Sonia, another work whose mutation let her see through metal.

It was also the day Brian had been waiting for.

Brian was sitting at a computer, logging the stock they'd just received via truck while the guys arranged it under Harry's supervision. He was pretty sure his hair smelled like tuna and his cheek and nose were still red and purple and yellow from the fight with Vince, but other than that he was doing okay. Harry had given him strict instructions to let Sonia handle the customers though, since Brian had actually made one cry yesterday when they saw his face. Silver lining was that Brian had been right. He didn't have a concussion.

The bell donged as someone entered the store but Brian didn't turn around, busy inputting the last of the items on his paper into the computer.

"Good afternoon, sir, how can I help you?" Sonia asked.

"Yes, I need the most powerful engine you have."

It was a man's voice, Hispanic accent, medium tone, cocky. Though he hadn't practiced the skill in three years, Brian had to fight the way his fingers twitched to reach for the ingredients for low grade cocaine. Drug runner.

Brian turned around as Sonia chuckled. "It takes more than a powerful engine to make a fast car," she shot back.

Black hair, buzzed so short it was almost not there. A wide nose, round ears with attached earlobes, surprisingly gentle looking eyes, a cleft chin, and a gap in his teeth. Brian knew this man. This was Arturo Braga. He was wanted throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, and most of northern Mexico for drug smuggling and psychogenic manipulation via mutation rather than medicine.

Behind him stood a large man with skin darker than Braga's warm tan and only a single wide strip of curly dark hair along the top of his head. Brian couldn't see any weapons on him, but the guy still looked dangerous. Fenix Calderon. He'd been seen in Braga's presence on multiple occasions. As far as anyone knew, he wasn't a mutant, but he was also fiercely loyal to Braga and had killed many times in Braga's service.

Braga placed one hand on the counter and leaned in toward Sonia. "Oh trust me, my car will be the fastest you ever experience." Sonia scoffed and rolled her eyes but her smile kept Braga from feeling blown off. "A high stall converter too, if you don't mind, honey."

Brian turned away from the sale going on but didn't continue his own work either. Braga was in The Racer's Edge. Brian needed to tell someone. He had to call it in. He'd found his mark. Hell, he hadn't even needed Dom to do it like he'd thought he would. This job would be over soon and Brian could go back to….well, back to his next job, he supposed. He moved so much he didn't have a home like the gang here did, but he had his work, and this was his work, and he'd be done with this job by tonight.

But why did Braga want to make a fast car? A getaway car? Or was he planning a big operation? Was he going to turn Torettown into his new smuggling grounds?

Shaking his head, Brian silently berated himself. It didn't matter what Braga was planning. Brian's job was to find him and where he was holding up, then call it in. That was it. All this meant was that Braga's car, whatever it was, was incomplete and they had time to move in on him.

Now all Brian had to do was find out where the bastard was spending his nights.

…

…

"Yeah, hey, Mia, it's Brian."

" _Hey, Dom was starting to get worried. How long til you get here?" Mia asked._

Brian lightly scratched a finger down his face and frowned. "Actually, listen. Mia….I'm not gonna be at dinner tonight. I actually have plans. I'm real sorry."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds. Brian began to hear the sounds of the others moving things and shouting to each other come through the tinny speakers, but no Dom. No Mia.

"Mia?"

" _Brian, where are you? Are you alright?"_

She sounded so sure that something was wrong that Brian actually began to wonder if her ability worked over long distances. He glanced around himself even though he knew she wasn't nearby. The sun was mostly set by now and street lights were beginning to blink on. There were a few warehouses one street over, and he was parked at the end of a street of houses on the opposite side of town from the Torettos. He'd even traded out his Eclipse for a half dead, grey Ford Telstar to be inconspicuous, so if she could see the car she wouldn't know it was his anyway.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm alright," Brian assured her. "I just- I had to go do something so I'm not gonna make it tonight. But I'll see you and the others tomorrow, ya know?"

When Mia answered, she didn't sound pleased. _"Why do I get the feeling you're lying to me, Spilner?"_

Brian grinned. Mia could definitely get a read on him even through a phone. She knew something was up. She'd probably tell Dom about it. Dom might come searching for him even, which was touching but pointless. The Eclipse was parked out behind The Racer's Edge, where Brian was staying while in town. His Racer's Edge truck was in the employee parking lot. Unless he broke in, Dom would have to assume Brian was home for the night.

"Oh, that's right. I had a question for you," Brian changed the subject abruptly, keeping his voice as light as possible.

" _Really?"_

He nodded though she couldn't see it. "Yeah. So you've got insight, and Dom's a healer. Letty's like a walking taser and Jesse can create shields. Vince has super strength. What's Leon? Is he a teleporter?"

Clearly thrown by the topic, it took Mia a few moments to answer. _"Uh, no. No he's…Leon blends."_

"Blends?"

" _Yeah. He, uh, he used to always win at hide and seek because he can make you think he's not where he is, even if you're looking right at him. Used to piss Vince off all the time. Me too, if I'm honest."_ She let out a single small laugh. _"Why d'you ask?"_

Brian shook his head. "No reason. I just realized I didn't know," he lied smoothly. "Anyway, say hey to Dom for me and let him know I should be in by two tomorrow, okay?"

There was a frown in Mia's voice again. _"Okay."_

"Enjoy your dinner."

" _Be safe, Brian."_

"I will, Mia, I promise."

…

…

Brian was used to sneaking in places. It was practically his job, after all. Getting up to the warehouse he'd seen Braga enter was easy. There was no security outside – no cameras, no bodyguards, no dogs, nothing. Though, if Brian were trying to be as low key as possible, he wouldn't have any of that stuff either.

He checked he had his gun on his belt, took a deep breath, and then moved to the nearest window with any light coming out and looked inside. From here he could see three cars, one of which was in pieces, several tables covered in car parts, and a system of chains and pulleys that were no longer in use but were still in good shape. In the shadows of the far wall he thought he saw the remnants of a conveyor belt production line. There were no people.

Moving to the next window gave him the same view, and the next two had light sneaking out but something was blocking the view of the room. After that was the cracked open main doors, just wide enough for a standard sized car to drive through and tall enough for a semi truck. As he approached the door, Brian caught voices.

That's where Braga was, and probably Fenix. There was enough light coming from inside that Brian knew he'd be spotted instantly if he went in through the front door, but the windows were blocked and he hadn't seen a back entrance anywhere.

Leon it was then.

He'd thought the ability to teleport inside would be useful, but if he could mimic blending, Brian could potentially slap the cuffs on Braga himself without anyone the wiser.

Brian remembered the last time he'd mimicked a mutation instead of a skill. He wasn't sure Mrs. Hensly ever realized what happened after he stopped talking, and he'd never told Rome that he'd copied his ability to make people believe your bullshit. His could've-been-boyfriend Spencer, however, had seen him do it and refused to talk to him ever again. Shit happens, he supposed.

This time there was no boyfriend and no teacher in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time there was a drug smuggler mutant and his reg bodyguard and who knew who else waiting just beyond this door. The stakes were higher now and Brian hadn't practiced since he was sixteen.

"You can do this," he whispered to himself, taking a deep breath. He focused on the feeling of Leon still swimming in his mind. Mechanic. Speed driver. Tattoo artist. One cigarette a day smoker. Took ballroom dancing as a kid and still knows the steps. The ability to mask his presence.

Latching on to that hint of mutation, Brian pulled it from obscurity into the forefront of his mind. He mixed what he'd experienced in Leon's presence with what Mia told him on the phone. You didn't see Leon unless he let you see him, unless he spoke, even if you were looking directly at him.

Brian felt his blood sing with the change. His skin felt tingly. Uncertain whether it worked or not but needing to trust in his own ability, Brian took a deep breath and slid into the warehouse, always keeping Leon's presence in mind.

Braga was standing next to a man with shoulder length dark hair wearing jeans and a baggy shirt. Fenix was leaning on a table and cleaning a gun. Braga and the stranger were next to a customized Nissan Skyline that Brian would love to impound just so he could take it for a spin.

"I'm telling you, man, security's tightening up!" the stranger complained. "Mayor's not in on it yet but the regs, man, they're everywhere outside town. Only a matter o' time."

"And this is a problem?" Braga asked nonchalantly. "Police unify sometimes. It never lasts long. One week and their resolve will falter, they move on. Business continues."

As if he didn't care about the conversation at all, Fenix glanced around the room. His eyes were on Brian for the briefest moment and Brian began to sweat. Then those dark eyes moved on, as if Brian were thin air. Brian let out a quiet breath.

The stranger shook his head. "No. No I can't do it. There's something not right about this."

As Brian inched closer, he saw that the stranger's expression was becoming more and more bewildered by the second as he glanced around them. Still, no one saw him, even though Brian was in full light. A quick glance at the ground showed his shadow was there but no one else seemed to see it either.

"Wait," the stranger said quietly. "Where am I? How did we get here, man?"

Braga tutted while Fenix chuckled low in his throat across the room. With a charming smile, Braga took the final step to be within arm's reach of the stranger, then reached out to touch his neck, cupping his fingers around the back of his neck as if to pull him in closer.

"I'll tell you, just listen," he promised. Brian watched in interest as Braga's eyes turned purple. "You work for me. You drive my drugs out of town and down to Tecate. You drive my money back. You don't open the cases. You don't steal from me. You don't talk to the police. Understand, hermano?"

The stranger nodded, all fear gone from his face. "Right. Sorry."

Brian couldn't breathe. He pulled air in harshly, trying to fill his lungs, and hoped Leon's mutation covered sound as well as image.

Braga smiled and released the man. "No worries. Now, get some rest. You have a delivery to make tomorrow night."

Brian moved out of the way as the stranger left through the same door Brian had entered through. With just Fenix around, Braga let his smile drop.

"Mutants. Harder to control than regular humans, that's true," he spat.

Fenix shook his head but continued cleaning his guns. "In a week you'll be running the cartel in Mexico, what does it matter?"

Braga scowled. "It matters, bruto, because I have to spend two weeks around skittish mutants too afraid of their own cagada to use the toilet." He let out a short growl. "I should have express ordered the parts."

"Boss," Fenix said, a one word reprimand to stop complaining and just deal with it.

Time to bail. If Brian didn't do something soon, he was going to pass out right there in front of the criminals he was meant to bring to justice. He hurried out of the warehouse and made it to the next one before he couldn't focus on Leon enough to hold the blend any longer. Brian felt himself lose it, felt a weight leave his chest even while his heart continued to pound triple time.

Stumbling, Brian saw the sweat that dropped from his face glittered in the last rays of the sun. His legs felt like jelly and his heart felt one beat off from exploding in his chest. It was like running twenty miles in ten minutes. Hand over his heart, Brian forced his limbs to keep moving, but it was like walking through tar.

His body was exhausted. Brian never mimicked mutations because while his body had no problem copying normal human skills, adapting to the genetic mutation of another person made him feel like this.

The only thing he could equate it to was when he and Rome were thirteen and Rome got booze from somewhere and he and Brian drank until they made themselves sick and then kept drinking. The day after had been the worst in his life up until then, and he'd told himself he would never let it get that bad again.

Brian's knees hit the dirt at the side of the next warehouse and he cursed aloud. He was too tired. His pulse was too fast. He'd have to find somewhere to rest. All he had to do was get back to the car and he could go somewhere and sleep. Harry's. Dom's.

Gosh he was hungry. Brian wished he'd gone to dinner after all. His stomach might eat itself at this rate. Mia's tuna was awful but Dom had made excellent chicken on Tuesday. Brian wondered what was for dinner tonight.

The stars were now twinkling above him and he could barely see the dirt in front of his eyes in the dark. Time was passing but he wasn't getting any closer to his car, to the Toretto household. Just like when he was sixteen, Brian's body was shutting down and he had no way to control it.

He shut his eyes and didn't open them again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 5**
> 
> Brian's face was pale in the bright daylight, his bruising from the fight with Vince standing out in stark contrast.
> 
> "Look at yourself, Brian," Monica said, an accusation in her voice as she waved at his person. "I can't protect you if the first time I know you're in danger is when I find you lying unconscious in the warehouse district at three in the morning."
> 
> "Oh come on, that's bullshit and you know it," Brian spat back.
> 
> He'd barely sat on the edge of the bed and reached to untie his shoes when the door opened again to admit Dom. Brian's heart jumped in his chest.
> 
> "You work in an auto shop, Brian. You're not a cop. Leave the snooping to the professionals."
> 
> Brian sent Dom a grin. "You can't tell me you've never snooped before, Dom."
> 
> "Mia says you've got a darkness hanging around your heart."
> 
> "I'm not," he managed, pulling all of Dom's attention back to him. Brian shook his head. "I'm not clean, Dom."


	5. Chapter 5

Cabs were slow and jerky and played awful music. Why were cabs so awful?

"Alright, buddy, we're here."

With a huff, Brian paid the cab driver and climbed out of the cream colored monstrosity. The midday light hit his eyes and Brian did his best not to groan too loud. All he wanted was to shut his eyes, someplace dark and quiet, and sleep. But he'd told Mia two o'clock and it was one fifty-nine and he was here, by sheer force of will.

Brian shuffled toward the diner, thinking maybe he'd grab a coffee to wake himself up before working on a car. He really shouldn't be working on anything that heavy or detailed when he was four seconds from snoozing, but this was also part of his job and he'd power through it.

"Goddammit, Brian, I said be careful!" Mia shouted angrily before Brian could even see her.

The smaller Toretto came out of the diner and into Brian's line of sight like an angry bee, quick and the air humming around her. Her steps faltered when she actually saw him, the anger on her face now mixed with concern.

"Hey, Mia," Brian greeted, trying to sound as upbeat as possible. She simply stared back at him. "Anyway, can I get a coffee or something?"

"Dom! Get out here!"

Brian flinched at her loud tone. She noticed, but it only made her expression harder. God, Brian had the makings of a killer migraine coming on. Why had he thought it was a good idea to come in to work? He should've called in sick. But then they'd all be worried or they'd think he was up to something or….oh, he didn't know. He was too tired to psychoanalyze his decisions.

When Dom stepped out from the diner behind his sister, Brian forgot about how tired he was for a moment. In the bright sunlight, both Toretto siblings had the warmest, softest looking skin, Mia's malleable and Dom's solid. They should be on the cover of magazines.

"Brian?"

Blinking back to reality, Brian saw that both siblings were now looking at him oddly. He must've actually nodded off for a moment, even standing up. "Sorry, what?"

Dom shook his head. "Right. I'll take him, you handle things here."

With barely a glance at his sister, Dom stepped forward and grabbed Brian by the arm. It was a soft touch, but strong enough that Brian couldn't break out of it without some effort. He let Dom lead him around until he realized they were heading for Dom's charger instead of the shop.

"Dude, where are you taking me? What about work?" he asked.

Dom raised an eyebrow. "Dude. Have you seen yourself, Brian? There's no way I can let you around a car right now. You're going to sleep."

Brian was pushed into the passenger seat of the Charger and then Dom headed around to the other side. In the few moments he was alone in the quiet, Brian pulled the rearview mirror until he could see himself.

Ugh, no wonder they were worried. His face was pale in the bright daylight, his bruising from the fight with Vince standing out in stark contrast. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he'd gotten no sleep for the past week and, leaning closer, Brian saw he still had a thin sheen of sweat on him. He hadn't gotten a chance to bathe before coming to work or see himself in a mirror, or else he probably would've at least bought some makeup to cover up a bit.

He put the mirror back as Dom settled into the driver's seat. Dom stared at him for a moment and Brian met his eyes, not sure what the shorter man was looking for. With a shake of his head, Dom turned the key in the ignition and started driving.

"Mia said you had plans last night," Dom said after about a minute and a half.

Brian looked from the passing world outside to his driver and tapped his knee absently. "Yeah. Yeah I uh…I was looking into this thing for my job. I'm not sure it panned out though."

Dom's frown got deeper. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?" He glanced at Brian and then back to the road. "What job for Harry'd get you looking like that, huh? Nothing."

"No, it was this guy," Brian insisted, shifting to sit up straighter in his seat to dispel some of the fatigue. "He came into the shop before. He seemed kind of shady. I was looking into what he was using the parts for."

For a few minutes, Dom kept quiet. It wasn't until they were pulling into the driveway at the Toretto house that he said, "You work in an auto shop, Brian. You're not a cop." He was turning the car off and getting ready to get out and thus missed how Brian gave an ironic smile. "Leave the snooping to the professionals."

Brian pulled himself from the car before Dom could think to come help him. He sent Dom a grin. "You can't tell me you've never snooped before, Dom."

Shaking his head, Dom motioned for Brian to follow him into the house. They went upstairs and Dom stopped midway down the hall. He glanced at the bathroom door to his left, then back at Brian behind him.

"You feeling up to a shower?"

"Honestly?" Brian asked. It was rhetorical but the unimpressed look Dom shot at him was a novel length answer at how stupid that question was. Brian cleared his throat. "I'm just really tired, I promise."

Dom waved down the hall. "You know where the guest room is."

Feeling a bit dismissed, Brian brushed past Dom and made his way into the room at the end of the hall. It was a fully furnished bedroom, with a dresser, bed, side table, closet, and even a mirror, curtains hanging around the window and pictures on the walls. Brian had seen this room when he was given the ten second tour on Sunday and it was cozy enough that he felt a bit of the disappointment from Dom's brusque tone fade.

He'd barely sat on the edge of the bed and reached to untie his shoes when the door opened again to admit Dom, a glass of water in his hand. Brian's heart jumped in his chest.

"You wanna tell me what you got into last night?" Dom asked, leaning on the wall by the door.

Cutting right to the chase. Brian respected that. He took the time to untie and remove one shoe before answering.

"I told you, I was looking into that sketchy guy who came into the store."

Likewise, Dom waited until Brian's other shoe was off before responding.

"I think that's bullshit, Spilner." When Brian looked up at him, Dom was scowling. The other man motioned to Brian with the cup of water. "You know what I think happened? I think you mimicked something."

Well he wasn't wrong.

"You look like shit, Brian, so be straight with me. Who were you with last night and what addiction are you fighting right now?"

Brian laughed. He couldn't help it. He was so tired and Dom's guess was so off that the sound burst out of him. Dom looked upset at being laughed at so Brian quickly explained.

"I appreciate the concern, really, but I swear, I'm not. I'm not on anything, I'm not craving anything more than sleep," he promised. "I did mimic someone last night, you're right. But it just wore me out. I swear."

With Dom still looking at him, Brian began to shrug out of the collared shirt he'd put on this morning. The buttons gave him some trouble but he managed.

Dom stepped closer until his legs nearly touched Brian's knees. He stood there for what felt like a century to Brian and then turned and took a seat on the bed next to him.

"Brian," Dom began, "The day you came to town, Letty, Jesse, and Leon brought you to Mia."

"They brought me to you," Brian corrected, then yawned.

A shake of the head. "They brought you to Mia. Once you were gone, she told me what her gift told her about you. Now I'm gonna be honest with you. You're suspicious. You pick up bad habits and hang on tight. You've lied to us more than once." Brian opened his mouth but Dom gave him a sharp look and he shut it again. "But beyond that, I trust you."

Brian searched Dom's face, his stern yet sincere expression, but couldn't find any answers in the turn of his lips or the brown of his eyes. "Why?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper in the quiet room.

Dom sighed and looked at the wall in front of them, the glass of water held in his hands between his knees.

"Mia says you've got a darkness hanging around your heart." That made Brian actually flinch back from him. "She said your heart itself was good, but that there was something evil clinging on, stinking of desperation and the dark underside of a city."

That would be the crime Brian fought against, he supposed, but the idea that it didn't leave him when he left the job was unsettling. If he kept doing this job, would that darkness eventually be who he was? Was he already a bad guy, only pretending to be good, rather than the other way around? Had he mimicked too many drug dealers, murders, kidnappers, conmen, to come back from it?

He only noticed Dom was watching him from the corner of his eyes when Dom finally looked away. "Don't think too hard," he rumbled. "I let you hang around because Mia said your heart was pushing back, staying clear. You know how many people she's seen with clean hearts?" He held up two fingers. "Not including yourself."

Brian's eyes felt hot and his throat clogged when he tried to speak. "I'm not," he managed, pulling all of Dom's attention back to him. Brian shook his head. "I'm not clean, Dom."

He took a deep breath, forcing the sudden well of emotion back enough for him to talk sensibly about this. He wasn't supposed talk about himself too much. It put his cover story at risk. Brian didn't give a shit right now.

Staring at his knees, Brian clenched his hands into fists. "I've been in three gangs," he said. "Bad ones. And I had to do awful things to get membership." He could still feel the blood under his fingernails sometimes, the other inductees lying on the floor, unable to get up and keep fighting. "I've made drugs, even helped ship 'em out. I've chauffeured street workers to jobs. I've worked with men who make a living kidnapping people, Dom." He covered his face with his left hand, as if that would hide him from Dom's eyes. "I've hurt people in so many ways."

If he wasn't so tired, he probably wouldn't be saying all this. At the moment though, it was a relief to talk about his past jobs. Part of him worried that Dom would consider Brian a dangerous mutant now, though. Everyone knew that the only time the Torettown Police Department and the government's Mutant Control Force ever got along was when the TPD were handing over a mutant who used their powers to hurt people – to murder, to alter the mind, to coerce people into things they didn't want, to rape. Maybe he'd never used his powers directly for any killing, but Brian felt like every time he mimicked those men he became one of them, and that was worse.

A hand on his shoulder made him jump, expecting an attack, but all Dom did was push him to lie down. He set the water on the side table and, as he drew his hand back from Brian's shoulder, touched his forehead.

"You've got a fever," Dom said. "Get some sleep and we'll talk when you're feeling better."

"But, Dom-" Brian started, unsure why he was trying to prove to Dom he was too bad to keep around.

Dom put his hand on Brian's face, like a muzzle, effectively shutting him up and blocking half his vision. Giving Brian a small shake, Dom said, "You're winning, remember? Don't think too hard."

He pulled the covers up over Brian's still jean-clad form, then made for the door. There was light coming in through the window around the curtains, and the hallway was plenty lit up, so the last thing Brian saw of Dom before the door shut was another image of his skin shining warm and solid in the sun. Then he was left alone. Though his mind was racing alongside his heart, it only took a minute of lying in the comfortable guest bed before Brian's eyes drifted shut and he fell asleep.

…

…

" _What the hell is taking so long, O'Conner?!"_

Brian wished he could see the Mutant Control Force agent yelling at him. Whenever someone breathed down their necks, more senior agents always came screaming at Brian like it was his fault things weren't going their way. As it was, he was in his little apartment behind The Racer's Edge, with only a cell phone connecting him to their ignorance.

" _Are you going native on us or something?"_ the older man asked heatedly. _"You know you're a regular human being right? These are_ mutants _, Brian. They find out your powers are just a cover, that you're a fake, and that's it, you're dead."_

Yeah, fake powers. Right. If the MCF had any idea their pet undercover was a mutant, he'd be in a holding cell in Washington's asshole so fast his hair would fall off. Hell, if any of the regular police departments he'd worked with had thought to look into it he'd be in trouble.

"Oh come on, Paulson, that's bullshit and you know it," Brian spat back, crossing one arm over his chest, the other holding the phone to his ear, and glaring at the wall like it was Paulson's face. "Libel's a crime, ya know? I'd hate to see someone mess up your pretty face cause you were telling lies."

And oh how he wished he was in the same room as this guy. All his life, Brian had listened to closed minded bullshit like that and he was sick of it. Give him five minutes with any one of these assholes and Brian would lay them out on the ground with an actual stick up their asses like the metaphorical ones they walked around with every day.

Maybe Vince was rubbing off on him. Now there was a scary thought.

A third voice, that of an older gentleman Brian knew named Tanner, broke in. _"Agents,"_ he said sternly. _"Remember we have a job to do. O'Conner, just tell us what you've found out."_

Brian took several deep breaths away from the mouthpiece of his phone before he answered, his voice as calm and calculated as he could make it. "Braga's definitely in town. I saw him last night in a warehouse using his powers to get some kid to do his dirty work for him. And he was buying custom parts at the shop. From what I saw, Braga's building a car that can outrun anything you've got on the market or in the garage. His man Fenix said they'd be in Mexico in a week."

" _Well then,"_ Tanner said, _"perhaps instead of playing house with Toretto, you can tell us where to find him."_

Another frown pulled at Brian's lips. "He was at warehouse fifteen on Striker Road last night. If you want to move in, you'd better do it quick before he moves house."

" _Good. You stay in play in case he's playing cat and mouse with us again,"_ Tanner told him. _"Keep us updated with anything you find out."_

"Yes, sir," Brian agreed.

" _Oh, and Brian?"_ Tanner asked. _"Don't wait twenty-four hours next time."_

"Yes, sir," Brian repeated sourly, though the call had already ended. Scowling, Brian shoved the phone in his pocket.

Sitting on the couch across the room was a beautiful woman with brown, highlighted hair, full lips, and artfully arched eyebrows. She had lovely, sun kissed skin and piercing dark eyes, and looked completely at home among Brian's haphazardly thrown laundry. Not for the first time, Brian wondered why she hadn't been given this mission instead of him. Monica Fuentes could assimilate to any conditions and use them flawlessly to her advantage.

At the moment she was frowning at him.

"What?" he asked.

Monica shook her head once. "Nothing. Just wondering why you didn't have them pull you from this case."

A frown of his own pulled on his lips. "Why would I do that? I'm maybe a few hours from catching this guy."

"Look at yourself, Brian," Monica said, an accusation in her voice as she waved at his person. "You're bruised and beaten and you don't call for backup when you need it. That's why I'm here, you know. But I can't help you if you don't tell me when you're moving in on a suspect. And I can't protect you if the first time I know you're in danger is when I find you lying unconscious in the warehouse district at three in the morning."

He still hadn't explained to her how he'd ended up in the dirt out there and her narrowed eyes proved she hadn't forgotten that either.

Monica's cousin was a mutant with the ability to track people by holding a personal effect. The MCF had considered using that gift to find Braga but they didn't have anything personal of Braga's to trace with and, more importantly, the woman wasn't likely to help a group known to hurt mutants and make them disappear.

For this case, Monica was running a play of 'reg family member on vacation from stressful big city job' and spent most of her time hanging out with her family that lived in Torettown. It was still a bit dangerous to be a regular human, but since she was family no one bothered her much. It also probably had something to do with how she could look at you and you got the impression she could kill you without landing a single blow.

She was also the MCF's reigning poker champion, probably for similar reasons.

Brian sighed. "I'm sorry, Monica. I should've called you. I won't run off on my own again, alright?"

They both knew he was lying, but Monica at least pretended to buy it for now.

"So," she said, changing subjects. "Do you think Braga is still in the warehouse?"

Brian shrugged. "I honestly have no clue. Those cars didn't look like they were going anywhere, but he was throwing a fit about staying in town too long. Turns out he doesn't like other mutants much." He took a deep breath. "I do know that there was no evidence of him sleeping at the warehouse, so we'll have to get lucky if a strike team is gonna catch him there."

"That's true, but you know the higher ups only care about action. If they think there's even the slightest chance they'll catch their man, they'll take it. Regardless of who's in the line of fire," Monica agreed bitterly. "And if they fail, it'll be our heads on the chopping block, not theirs."

"Even if they screw up, we'll catch this guy, Monica," Brian assured her, "and then it'll be us holding up an award while they clap somewhere in the audience."

Monica shook her head, brown waves flowing fluidly back and forth, and laughed. "You're quite the character, O'Conner." Chuckling one more time, she began to gather up her things. "I'd better start heading back or my cousin will get worried."

Standing up, Brian moved to open the door for his guest. She squeezed his shoulder once in lieu of a hug, then stepped through the doorway.

"Oh, one more thing," Monica said, turning back to him. At Brian's encouraging look, she pointed a manicured finger around the studio apartment beyond the door. "What's with all the tuna salad?"

Blushing, Brian looked over his shoulder. There were so many cans of tuna in the trash that they overtook anything else he'd thrown in there, and three bowls of tuna salad prepped and waiting on the kitchen counter, not to mention the tuna sandwich on the arm of the couch that he'd been about to eat when Monica showed up.

"Just…proving I still know how to make it," he answered, knowing it sounded like nonsense even as the words left his mouth. Monica raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to try some?"

She gave him a look like he was particularly slow. "No. Tuna's not my fish of choice. But you enjoy yourself." She stepped back from the doorway. "And call me before you do something stupid again."

"I will," he said as she meandered confidently down the hallway into the starry night. "Night, Fuentes."

She flashed him a smirk. "Goodnight, _Spilner_. Enjoy playing house while you can."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview for Chapter 6**
> 
> Brian's eyes snapped to Dom to find the most intense look yet focused solely on him. It was a gaze that made swallowing difficult. Brian's heart stuttered in his chest as he wondered why Dom was looking at him like that.
> 
> "My father died driving one of Linder's cars. One stupid mistake and my father went up in flames."
> 
> "Like I said, bad news," Jesse said with a nod, unaware of Brian's thoughts.
> 
> Dom's sudden rage barely made the team react. Mia shot him a look to calm down as she dialed on the phone but the rest of the team looked different levels of mad themselves and didn't comment.
> 
> "Brian, we need to talk about what you said the other day. Are you running from the cops? Or from Braga?"
> 
> "So you are the one who is full of secrets?" Brian opened his mouth to joke a denial but Elena shook her head.
> 
> The air in the diner was suddenly so tense that it was actually harder to breathe. Brian did his best not to react.
> 
> "A cop?" Jesse asked.
> 
> Elena shook her head again. "Not one of ours."
> 
> The sound of the bullets piercing Brian's car multiple times registered over the sound of the rapid popping of gunfire.


	6. Chapter 6

Unable to sleep for long, Brian had gone to DT's Diner and Garage early the next morning, right after the diner would be open. Leon was making eggs for Vince and Jesse and, seeing Brian wandering over, immediately added more to the pan for him as well. Mia was pouring a coffee for an actual customer and Brian waved for one for himself as well when she got the chance.

"So," Leon started when the customer was gone. "You gonna tell us what was up with you yesterday?"

Brian glanced up from his eggs. "What d'ya mean?"

"Eyeah, Mia told us you looked like shit, bro," Jesse said, waving his fork around. "Dom took you home for some TLC, maybe without the T and the L?"

Vince chuckled once but didn't stop eating. Brian glanced around at the three men, and at Mia pretending to not listen in.

Dropping his fork to his plate, Brian wiped his mouth and leaned back on the bar stool. "Alright. I went out the other night," he started. "I drove around for awhile, went for a walk. I decided I'd try and mimic someone, in a way I haven't tried since I was a kid. Turns out it was too much and it wore me out." He shrugged. "I just needed to sleep it off."

"What do you mean, 'a way you haven't tried since you were a kid'?" Vince asked gruffly. "There more than one way to copy?"

Brian sighed and looked up to find Mia staring at him. "Mutations," she said, a hint of awe and yet concern in her voice. Sometimes Brian hated that she could read what he wasn't saying. She shook her head. "That's not your power, Brian."

"But it is. It could be," he protested lightly. "I can do it. I _have_ done it. I've just never practiced."

Jesse waved his hands around wildly as if to clear the air. "Whoa whoa wait. You telling me homie here copies powers too? Not just skills?" He let out a long breath through pursed lips. "Whoa."

There was a strange look on Vince's face, like he was conflicted and unhappy about it. He glanced at Brian's face, then at his stomach, before resolutely facing his eggs again but not eating.

"That's sick, bro," Leon complimented with a grin. "You ever copy one of us?"

Ha. Brian shook his head. "I don't wanna talk about it. Even though I can do it, I don't like to. If I can help it, I'd rather not do it again."

"But you said-" Jesse started.

Mia held up her hand and he shut his mouth. "If he doesn't want to copy powers, he doesn't have to copy powers." She looked at Brian like she couldn't believe his gall. "I don't know why you didn't just tell Dom that yesterday. He was seriously worried about you, Brian. We both were." It sounded like an accusation, only tempered by the concern she still felt for him.

"Buster's full of secrets," Vince said, his voice almost as conflicted as his expression had been. Brian wasn't sure what to make of it, what had caused this change.

"This city is full of secrets."

The team turned around on their seats to watch as a slim Brazilian woman stepped into the shop.

"Elena," Mia greeted. "Should I get Letty?"

Brian took in the new woman. Blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, bright green eyes that were soft but also dared you to make a wrong step. She was short, but Brian had no doubt she could take most people down if it came to it. Elena. He remembered reading her name on the police dossier. She was part of the Torettown Police Department – new but highly effective it had said. Not much else.

Elena nodded at Mia's question. "And Dominic." She wore an apologetic expression. "I come on business today."

As Mia moved toward the garage, and the office, to grab Letty and Dom, Elena turned her eyes on Brian.

"Hello. I don't believe I've seen you here before," she greeted.

Leon pointed at him. "That's the Buster, Brian Spilner," he introduced. Brian waved.

Elena's lips lifted. "So you are the one who is full of secrets?" He opened his mouth to joke a denial but she shook her head and kept talking. "Just remember that all secrets come out eventually."

Shutting his mouth, Brian gave her a solemn nod. A moment later, the back door opened and the three missing team members returned. Dom came to stand by Brian while Letty kept moving until she was next to Elena. Leaning down, she placed a quick kiss to Elena's smiling lips.

Well that hadn't been in the reports on Letty.

"I missed you too," Elena said, reaching down for Letty's hand.

As soon as their fingers were clasped, Letty gave a heaving breath. "You have no idea how much. I want to take you to the garage and-" Elena released Letty's hand and the words stopped abruptly. She gave Letty a raised eyebrow look and Letty just grinned like a wolf. "You think I wouldn't say it just cause you let go?"

Shaking her head with a good-natured smile, Elena said, "No. But now is not the time." She turned to the boys, who acted like this was normal behavior so it probably was, and turned serious again. "There was an outside police raid last night."

The air in the diner was suddenly so tense that it was actually harder to breathe. Brian did his best not to react.

"What kinda raid?" Dom asked, voice stony.

Elena gave a one-armed shrug. "They took a warehouse on Striker Road. Someone reported them with enough time for us to get there and question them." She frowned. "It was the MCF."

Vince and Leon cursed and Jesse held his fork like a weapon. Dom's arms were crossed so tight Brian worried he'd burst a vein.

"Do you know what they were after?"

"A man named Paulson reported that they were after a drug trafficker but only got his cars," Elena said. "When asked how they knew where to look, Paulson said they had a source."

"A rat," Leon added.

"Wasn't a concerned citizen," Vince said.

"A cop?" Jesse asked.

Elena shook her head again. "Not one of ours. We told them they should have asked us. We work with the MCF against these types of criminals. Paulson spat in our faces. Said they were within their jurisdiction and to stay out of the way."

Brian snorted in derision. That sounded just like Paulson. One of these days, that dick was gonna get it, and Brian probably wouldn't even be the one to give it to him.

"There was a cop here the other day," Letty reminded everyone, but Elena had already shook her head in the negative.

"Herman Keech was not MCF," she informed them. "Whomever they have in the city, they are good at blending in. But the reason I came to tell you about this is that they are after Ramon Campos."

Okay, what? Brian frowned. "Ramon Campos?"

"It's a street name used by a guy named Arturo Braga," Letty said. "He's a scum bag that keeps slipping into town and causing trouble." She punched her right fist into her left hand. "I'd love to get my hands on that bastard."

Jesse leaned past Vince at the counter to tug on Brian's sleeve. "Dude's seriously bad news, yeah?" he said. "He comes in, brings a buncha loads of drugs with him, takes a couple hometown mutants, and disappears."

"Drugs and kidnapping?" Brian asked.

He knew how that was possible. Braga had touched that guy the other night and could've had him dancing in a tutu in less than a second. If he was kidnapping, that's how he was doing it.

Or, he wasn't kidnapping. He was taking a few mutants each visit as drug runners. Brian didn't know why they weren't coming back afterward, but that was probably where they were going. They were going wherever Braga sent his drugs. Tecate. Braga had said to take the drugs to Tecate. And if Brian's past experience with drug lords served him right, along with Braga's dislike of other mutants, his runners were probably getting gunned down upon delivery.

He clenched his hands into fists on the countertop. If Letty didn't get to Braga first-

"Like I said, bad news," Jesse said with a nod, unaware of Brian's thoughts.

"Man, if we catch him before the MCF," Leon started.

"You won't. The Torettown Police Department will," Elena broke in. She locked eyes with Dom. "I was sent to tell you of this because of who you are and what you do, but let the force take care of this. We train for this. Stay safe, Dominic." She turned to Letty. "All of you."

Letty grinned at her again and pushed some blonde hair out of her face. "You know we can't promise that, babe."

Elena gave a small smile. "It was worth a shot."

She left with a cup of coffee to go from Mia, quick pats on the shoulder from the guys, a handshake from Brian, and a kiss from Letty with promise of dinner later. When his hand had touched hers, it had taken everything Brian had not to immediately introduce himself as Brian O'Conner, mutant on loan to the Mutant Control Force trying to apprehend Arturo Braga, lover of cars and jazz music and coronas, who lost his virginity to Sally McHartly when he was seventeen and then turned around less than a year later and took Kevin Sanders' in turn, and to confess to every crime he'd ever helped to commit while undercover, every injury whether physical or emotional that he'd inflicted, every good or terrible thing he'd done in his life.

When she let go he was left reeling and had to shake his head a few times to clear it and blink the dots from his eyes. Elena smiled at him like she was used to that reaction and wished him a nice day before moving on.

…

…

That afternoon was the Sunday BBQ, so the diner was only open for a few hours before closing down for the day, and the garage was never opened to the public. Instead, the guys headed to the Toretto house to grill food and chill drinks.

It wasn't as stressful as the previous week's BBQ, mostly because Vince wasn't egging him on this time. There were dozens of people who showed up throughout the day, some leaving and others just arriving, and they brought their own food to add to the stock pile on the overloaded tables. It was nice, brought the neighborhood together, but Brian could only partly enjoy it.

Braga hadn't been caught last night. Paulson was gonna blame Brian's bad info, regardless of the fact that they'd got his car and thus probably slowed down his escape. Tanner would be quietly disappointed, and who knew who else would be out to make Brian's life hell now. Monica at least would be on his side, however much that would help.

The team and the Torettown police were now on the lookout for an undercover cop. The fact that the people of Torettown wanted to catch Braga as much as the MCF did meant Brian's job would be easier, as he could ask them questions without seeming suspicious and could maybe count on them helping out if things got hairy. However, if he asked the wrong question, or too many questions, or let slip something he shouldn't know, then all that attention would turn to him instead and he would risk losing the investigation, and Braga, entirely. Given how Vince had gone after Keech, had gone after Brian himself simply for defending the guy, Brian's ribs ached just at the thought of Vince attacking him for actually being an out of town cop.

Dom caught him after all the neighborhood people were gone.

"What's the matter?" he asked, leaning against the counter where Brian was cleaning dishes.

Honesty is the best policy and all that. "Just thinking about this Braga guy and the police."

Now Dom lifted a curious eyebrow. "Are you running from the cops, Spilner? Or from Braga?" It sounded like a joke, not a serious question at all, a tease.

Brian snorted. "No. I'm not on the run from the cops or Braga," he assured the larger man. "Look, I know I'm suspicious, but that, at least, you can trust me on." He shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know, man. I just keep thinking about how shitty peoples' lives are because of Braga, and that raid. And those people who keep going missing…Dom, I don't think they're still alive. I'm sorry, but I don't."

For a long while, Dom was silent again. It was long enough that Brian finished cleaning the dishes and putting them on the drying rack. He picked up the kitchen towel to dry his hands off.

"Dom," Brian started again. "If you figure out where Braga is…what'll you do?"

"We'll go after him," Dom answered easily. "This team is a family, but we're also a fighting force. The police are well trained, I admit, but if we find Braga first, we ain't waiting for back up."

Now Brian frowned down at the towel. "And if one of them gets hurt?" he asked. "If you rush in headfirst and one of them gets killed?"

"Then I'll break his neck."

Brian's eyes snapped to Dom to find the most intense look yet focused solely on him. It was a gaze that made swallowing, heck _breathing_ , difficult. Brian's heart stuttered in his chest as he wondered why Dom was looking at him like that. He'd been talking about the team, but Dom was looking at Brian like there was no one else, like he was talking about if Brian got hurt instead of the team.

He shook his head. That was ridiculous thinking. "You'd go to jail," he said.

Dom took a step closer, now beginning to take up Brian's personal space. "You think I care about that?" he asked, sounding offended that Brian would believe that about him. "If someone I care about, someone in my family, gets hurt, the consequences don't matter, Spilner."

With effort, Brian swallowed. "Don't call me that."

The words surprised Dom. Hell, they surprised Brian. "Call you what?"

Brian took a step back from Dom, put the towel on the counter next to the dishes, and shook his head. "Spilner." That wasn't his name and he hated being reminded that he was lying to these people every time he heard that name. These were good people. They were misfits who found each other and helped each other and other people. "My name is Brian."

After only a second, Dom said, "Okay, Bri."

Brian's eyes widened a bit at the nickname and he felt a hot blush rise in his cheeks. Giving him a nickname…that sounded so personal coming out of Dom's mouth. It made him feel important, more important than any officer's badge ever had.

He cleared his throat. "I-I should get going," he said, cursing the stutter. "Harry's in the morning and all."

Brian left the kitchen without looking at Dom and thus was shocked still at the feel of a heavy hand on his shoulder right when he reached the front door. He looked over his shoulder at the shorter man.

"Brian, we need to talk about what you said the other day."

The other day. Brian's heart dropped into his gut. Dom must mean when Brian had spilled about his criminal past. Had he figured out that Brian was a cop? Or was he going to tell Brian to leave the city because he was no better than Braga?

Dom reached past Brian to open the door, then motioned for Brian to lead the way out. Only once the door was shut behind them did Dom begin to talk.

"I don't know how your mutation works," he said. "You obviously don't keep everything you copy from people, or you woulda been smoking from the moment we met. So what?"

Brian shook his head once. "You're right. I have to practice. If I don't practice, the copy begins to fail after about a month."

They stepped off the porch and began making their way to Brian's car.

"And do you practice crime, Brian?" Dom asked. "Making drugs, kidnapping people, killing?"

Brian glared. "Of course not," he practically spat. "I never kidnapped or killed anyone in the first place."

A smug smile spread Dom's lips. He looked so relaxed that Brian felt silly for being tense and angry. "Then the way I see it, you have nothin' to worry about." He put a hand on the hood of Brian's car when they reached it.

"I still helped those people, Dom. I still hurt people," Brian reminded him. "Just because I didn't hang on to the bad habits and jobs those guys had doesn't mean I'm Scott clean."

"I nearly beat a man to death once."

Dom wasn't looking at Brian, but at the car under his hand. Brian had read Dom's file before starting this mission, so he already knew about Linder, but the fact that Dom was sharing that information was important and kept Brian quiet.

"My dad was a businessman, but he loved racing cars. This guy, Kenny Linder, he was a mechanic and worked with my dad fixing up cars to race." He pulled his hand back from the car. "My father died driving one of Linder's cars, and it was because Linder had made an error putting the car together. One stupid mistake and my father went up in flames."

"Dom, I'm sor-"

"I came across Linder the next week," Dom talked over him, not letting him give his pointless apologies. Dom looked up at Brian now, making sure the other man's attention was solely on him. "I was in the garage and he came in. I picked up a wrench, and I attacked him. Only the fact that Jesse was there saved Linder's life, and it took Vince and Letty both to keep me from trying again."

Kenny Linder left that fight with a scar down the left side of his face, just barely missing his eye. Though there had been an investigation, Liner decided not to press charges. His official statement was that he'd deserved it and more for his mistakes.

"We're all capable of doing bad things, Brian," Dom was saying, looking into his eyes. "Most of us have done bad stuff in the past. What matters is what you do with the rest of your life, why you do it, and who you do it with." He nodded over his shoulder at the house. "Everything I do is for my family, and this team, this city, is my family. I can't be stupid when they're all counting on me."

This was what Brian liked about Dom. If Dom chose to care about you, you had the world. He would do anything for you. He was the central hub of a galaxy and everyone else made up the solar systems that spun around him. Brian wanted to be in his galaxy, in his space.

"I never knew my dad," Brian admitted. "I don't remember anything about him. What he looks like. What he did for a living. What he liked to do. Nothing. And my mom…she was a nurse, always worked long hours. She was helping a patient when a man came in and killed nearly half the hospital staff when I was thirteen."

He'd been a mutant, looking for his partner who'd been admitted. Brian's mom happened to be with the partner, in the way, collateral damage. Brian had gone to live with Rome and his parents within a month.

"I've been moving around since I was nineteen, Dom. I don't have a family. I don't have a reason why I do any of the things that I can except that I can do them." Brian shrugged. "I like to think I'm helping people, but most of the time I think I end up hurting them more."

Dom stepped into Brian's space and held him by the shoulders. "You're our family now, Brian. Even if you leave us behind someday, you'll still be family to us. And we don't give up on family, ever."

Brian's eyes were warm again, tears threatening to make an appearance. In that moment, he was immeasurably grateful to Dom, unbelievably thankful that he'd accepted this assignment. And then, just as fast, he remembered exactly that: this was an assignment. Once Braga was captured, he was going to lose this.

He'd lose family dinners on Tuesdays and Thursdays, community BBQs on Sunday afternoon. He'd lose his dinky apartment behind Harry's, and his duel job at The Racer's Edge and DT's Diner and Garage. He'd lose the sense of warmth he got from the team, even when they were arguing with each other. He'd lose Leon making eggs and Mia making coffee, Jesse being so excited to see him, Dom tucking him into bed and bringing him water and making sure he was alright. He'd lose seeing mutants freely using their powers and being free to use his own. He'd lose this feeling of Dom's warm hands tight on his shoulders, his gaze on Brian's face. He'd lose all of this.

The sound of motorbikes broke the moment and both men turned to face the road just as two bikes zipped around the corner and into view. Even in the last rays of sunlight, it was easy to tell these were two of Johnny Tran's gang. Which ones was a little more difficult to know.

One of the riders reached behind him and pulled out a gun while the other rider didn't move his arms at all but the gun on his back lifted up anyway. Brian realized what was about to happen a scant moment before it did, and then bullets were flying at them.

Brian was thinner than Dom but he was also taller. He shifted so that he was between the bullets and Dom before both of them began grabbing at each other and attempting to get out of the way. The sound of the bullets piercing Brian's car multiple times registered over the sound of the rapid popping of gunfire.

They both hit the ground at the same time, Dom grunting and Brian letting out a short cry of pain. Dom pushed himself to his knees, looking ready to attack someone, in time to watch the bikes zip out of view again down the road. Brian thought he might still go after them, but Dom glanced at Brian as he moved to get up and the thrill of the chase left him.

Blood was beginning to ooze out of the bullet wounds on Brian's stomach.

"Ow?" Brian wheezed, his right hand clenched around his stomach. At first there was no pain, but the effort of that joke hurt more than it was worth, and suddenly his whole torso felt like a hot iron had stabbed through it.

Dom felt around Brian to his back, pulling his hand away bloody from where the bullets had entered Brian's body. His expression was grim. The front door burst open and Mia and Letty spilled onto the porch. It took only one second for Letty to push Mia back inside with orders to get the phone and dial 911. Mostly, Brian didn't even notice them.

Brian looked down at where he was pressing into his own abdomen. Blood was spilling out around his arm, painting it with red lines like cracks in his skin. He tried to count the wounds based on the centers of pain. One. Two. Three? Three or four? Shit, he couldn't tell. It was becoming one giant brand of pain all across his body, pointless to try and number.

"You shielded me," Dom mumbled, frowning deeper. "Brian-"

Focusing thought on forming words was tough, but, looking up from the blood soaking his shirt, Brian said, "Worth it."

Dom's eyebrows knit together. He shook his head. "You're a mimic, Brian. I heal. Mimic me."

Brian didn't know if he had the strength to pull off mimicking mutant powers. He barely had the energy on a regular day, much less bleeding out all over the sidewalk. He tried to tell Dom that, but Dom was talking again before he could.

"Idiot! It makes you look like shit but Bri, that's better than dead. Now mimic me!" he ordered.

Brian's vision was going dark already. No way he would make it until an ambulance arrived, let alone to a hospital. Dom was right. Either he attempted the mimic or he'd be dead.

Brian closed his eyes and Dom pressed down on the gunshot wounds, making Brian shout and cringe. He gave Dom a withering glare and shut his eyes again, doing his best both to focus on the pain to stay conscious and ignore it so he could see beyond it to find Dom with his genes.

Almost as soon as Brian decided to mimic Dom, he felt himself surrounded in everything he knew about the man. One hour workout every morning, one before bed. Makes pasta from scratch. Loves Mia's tuna, hates most fish. Can shift gears in a car with barely a hiccup in the car's movement. Wins every race he enters. King of the Road. King of Torettown. Great grandfather, grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, sister, cousins, him, all mutants. Healer.

Mimicking Dom was nothing like mimicking Leon. His blood still sang, but the transition of power from his mind to his body was like cool water instead of pins and needles. The pain in Brian's body was soothed in seconds, or it may have been hours. Brian felt eclipsed in Dom's ability. Copying Dom was as easy as copying Mia's tuna – effortless, almost unintentional even.

"-ian. Brian. Brian!"

Brian's eyes slid open, as if he were waking from a dream, and found the entire team surrounding him. While they all looked worried or happy that he'd responded, Dom looked broken open. It wasn't anything overt, but the crinkles around his eyes and mouth, the brightness of his eyes, the furrow of his eyebrows, the tilt of his lips – he looked relieved, as if the world had ended and then been put back together.

Again, Brian mentally shook his head. He needed to stop coming up with overly detailed and sappy explanations for Dom's expressions. They probably weren't as emotional as he was making them out to be.

Mia was still holding the phone and Brian hoped she hadn't called the hospital because he felt like he could swim from one end of the Mississippi to the other.

"Did it work?" Brian asked, reaching down to pull his shirt up.

Jesse and Leon winced at the blood streaked across Brian's stomach, but that's all there was. There were no wounds. Dom helped him sit up but there was no pain.

"I'd say so," Letty answered when it became obvious no one else would. "Even your bruising is gone."

"You okay?" Jesse asked, then waved at Brian's entirety. "You know, with the whole-"

Brian nodded. "I feel great, actually."

Letty frowned. "What the hell happened?"

"Tran," Dom growled, the relieved expression erased from his face as he looked down the road into the dark where the bikes had disappeared. His grip on Brian's shoulders barely twitched. "What the hell was he thinking?! They've always been stupid but never this stupid!"

His sudden rage barely made the team react. Mia shot him a look to calm down as she dialed on the phone but the rest of the team looked different levels of mad themselves and didn't comment.

Brian got into a crouch to stand when suddenly a wave of dizziness hit him like a sack of bricks and he fell sideways, right into the solid wall of muscle that was Dominic Toretto. "Oh."

Dom wrapped his arm around Brian's shoulders, and there was almost no trace of his anger in his voice when he spoke. "You alright?"

Brian nodded but it made him dizzy again and he held his head. His limbs were beginning to feel like lead and he sighed. "Yeah….Delayed reaction, I guess." He took a deep breath and realized that he was pretty much talking into Dom's chest. "Look, I'd love to help get the guy that just nearly killed me…but you mind if I borrow the spare room again first?"

"Bro, Rip van Winkle all you like. We'll catch these sons-a-bitches before you wake up," Jesse promised with a thumbs up and a wink.

Brian gave his own thumbs up back and then suddenly Dom was lifting him to his feet. Vince and Letty kept looking around like they were expecting another drive by while Jesse went to inspect Brian's car. Leon and Mia followed Dom as he gently pushed Brian back into the house, Mia on the phone with what sounded like the police the whole time.

The heat of Dom's hand was nice against the back of Brian's neck and shoulders. Brian felt himself relaxing even before they'd made it upstairs to the bedroom. On the upstairs landing, Dom paused. Brian glanced back at him and found him looking downstairs, so he did too. Letty was watching them. Upon first glance, Brian would've thought she was upset with them, but he looked closer and found her expression was more curious and confused than angry. Dom made a noise like a scoff and then continued to corral Brian into the bathroom. They were only there long enough to get a wet towel and a dry one before Dom was moving Brian into the guest bedroom.

As soon as Brian's butt hit the bedspread, the reality of what just happened fell upon him. He'd been shot. Repeatedly. In all his years on the force, all his years working for the worst people imaginable, such a thing had never happened to him. He'd nearly died except for Dom. For almost the first time in his life, Brian was proud to be a mutant. For the first time, Brian was glad he'd mimicked a mutant's powers. Not for the first time, Brian was grateful that Dom was with him.

"I'm glad you were there," Brian said as he pulled off his shoes and jeans. Then, a bit softer, he admitted, "I'm glad you're here."

Dom helped pull Brian's t-shirt over his head, then gave a small smile when Brian's face was visible again. He handed Brian the wet towel to clean the blood off with. "I'll always be here, Bri."

Flushing a bit at the nickname, Brian wiped himself clean. He accepted the dry towel to pat the water off and then slid under the covers when Dom took both towels away from him. There was no light coming in through the window this time, and only a faint light from downstairs was visible in the hallway. Brian was disappointed he wouldn't see Dom's skin light up again and frowned.

Dom stood next to the bed and leaned down smoothly, like he did this every day. Brian's heart jackrabbited when Dom's lips touched his forehead, Dom's hand in his hair.

"Dom?" he whispered into the near dark.

Dom met his eyes, his pupils catching the bare light around them and shining, and said in his deep, rumbling timbre, "I'm glad you're alright." With one vague tug of Brian's curls, just enough to remind Brian the hand was there, Dom let go and moved to the door. "Sleep well, Brian. I'll see you in the morning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 7**
> 
> Brian placed his hands on the counter on either side of the computer he was meant to be working at and lowered his head. Brian could feel Dom's hand pulling his hair out of the way, Dom's lips against his forehead.
> 
> "Not used to mutant-central yet, huh?" the cop continued, unaware of Brian's mental lapse. "Yep, even the lowlifes are mutated."
> 
> There was a long pause before Tanner answered. "Are you asking me to transfer a specific mutant from wherever they happen to be to the Torettown jail?"
> 
> Brian nodded. "Draw him out into the open. Force him to come to me instead."
> 
> For a moment, Monica looked blown away, like she had never expected to hear something like that come out of Brian's mouth. Then she schooled her features and gave a nod.
> 
> "He said he talked to the police after the raid, admitting that you were the undercover cop."
> 
> Lance kept his head turned away, as if he were pretending this situation wasn't happening. Brian had Johnny's full attention but still received no answer.


	7. Chapter 7

" _It was Paulson."_

Brian sat down heavily on his bed and hid his face in his hands. On his couch, once more, sat Monica, who rolled her eyes and let out a heavy, annoyed breath. On the coffee table about halfway between them sat a phone on speaker.

After the drive-by debacle, Brian had slept for nearly eleven hours, and then woken up feeling 100%. It was better than any other time he'd mimicked a power and he wondered if it was due to practice or because he'd mimicked Dom. When the memory of that instinctive, all-encompassing, warm, protective power had faded enough, Brian had called Monica to report what had happened.

It was Paulson, they said. Of course it was Paulson. _What_ exactly was Paulson, Brian didn't know yet, but he was certain it was something stupid and Paulson worthy.

"What did he do?" Monica asked.

Tanner sighed on the other end of the phone. _"We found him this morning walking out of Torettown's east side. He said he talked to the police after the raid, and that he was approached by Braga shortly after. According to Paulson, the rest is a bit 'fuzzy' but he remembers Braga asking him how we knew so much and him admitting that you were the undercover cop."_

Brian kicked his side table, nearly knocking the lamp on it to the floor. "Shit!" Braga had used his powers on Paulson and goddamn Paulson gave him everything. "I've been made," he growled into his hand, eyes on the digital clock on the table, not actually taking in the numbers he saw there.

Monica stood and walked closer to the phone even though it wasn't necessary. "No you're not," she told Brian. "Braga can't go to the police about you because the TPD is after him too. And you said that Toretto and the gang don't know you were the target of the attempted drive by."

"I don't know 100% that I was," Brian reminded her. "Made they were after Dom. The Trans have been on the TPD and Dom's radar for months for hassling visitors to town and petty crimes they can't prove the Trans are involved in."

"Which just makes them trying to kill Dominic Toretto even less possible," Monica said. "All killing him would do is make their lives more difficult, not less. The only other target was you, so logically they were after you." She shrugged one shoulder. "You're lucky they missed."

Brian gave a single laugh that he didn't feel. "Yeah. But Braga, so what if he can't go to the police, so what if he failed to kill me last night? Braga knows I'm a cop. That means he'll be watching me now. How can I sneak up on someone when they have eyes on me from six miles away?"

" _You don't, and maybe that's the point,"_ Tanner piped up, causing both agents to look at the phone again.

"Come again, sir?" Monica asked. They were both thinking the same thing: was Brian off the case?

" _Braga knows you're a cop, so you can't sneak up on him. But if sending other people to kill you fails, he'll try to do it himself,"_ Tanner explained.

Brian nodded, hope for the mission building again. "Draw him out into the open. Force him to come to me instead. I like it." He paused. "That'll put the people around me in danger."

Monica raised an eyebrow at him. "Toretto's gang is more than capable of protecting themselves, O'Conner. You read the files, same as I did. They help the police sometimes, even. If anyone can handle a drug lord coming into their backyard, it's them."

" _Brian,"_ Tanner said, _"keep up the camaraderie with Toretto and the gang. If Braga doesn't show in a few days, start asking around, shake a bush or two. Make him nervous so he'll confront you. Got it?"_

"Got it, sir," Brian agreed with a nod, even though Tanner couldn't see him.

" _And Fuentes."_

"Sir?"

" _Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity moving around the city. We've got sentries watching what goes in and what comes out, but if things are on the move in Torettown – say, a very fast car – we need to know about it."_

"Of course," Monica agreed.

After that, the call ended. Monica almost immediately began heading for the door, but Brian's voice stopped her.

"Don't call them that."

"Sorry?" she asked, facing her partner fully.

Brian stood from the bed and shook his head, looking a bit drained in a way that had nothing to do with physical fatigue. "Dom, Mia, Letty, Vince, Leon, Jesse. They aren't a gang. They're a family," Brian explained. "So don't call them a gang. Nothing they're doing is illegal."

For a moment, Monica looked blown away, like she had never expected to hear something like that come out of Brian's mouth. Then she schooled her features and gave a nod.

"Sure thing, Brian. My apologies." She made sure her purse was properly seated on her shoulder. "Anything else before I brave the company party my sister is dragging me along to?"

Brian grinned. "Make sure you can run in your shoes and good luck."

Flashing Brian a grin in return, Monica turned and left Brian alone again in his apartment. Now Brian had to figure out how to make himself enough of a target for Braga to try and kill him, but elusive enough to make Braga himself come give it a shot. He needed to talk to the Trans.

Sense memory kicked in all of a sudden and Brian could feel Dom's hand pulling his hair out of the way, Dom's lips against his forehead, Dom's voice loud in the early night.

" _I'm glad you're alright."_

Brian blushed and rubbed at his forehead to make the sensation go away, but no amount of running his hands through his hair completely erased the sensation of Dom's fingers loosely gripping his curls.

…

…

Work at Harry's was the usual. Brian put out replacement parts in displays where customers had bought products. He set up a new display for brakes that Harry had just bought. He sold carburetors and exhaust pipes and windshield wipers. He cleaned the counter. He signed someone up for emails from Harry about new shipments and coupons and deals on specialty parts.

The normalcy of the day shocked Brian. He'd nearly died two days ago but if you walked into The Racer's Edge today, you would never know. The world kept turning. This wasn't the first time Brian had nearly died, but it was the first time he'd experienced something so common afterward. Usually his brushes with death were near the end of a job and within two days he was back with whatever police force had hired him, or already on his way to the next city with the next undercover job. He'd never had this…lull before.

Would anyone miss him if he died?

" _You're our family now, Brian. Even if you leave us behind someday, you'll still be family to us. And we don't give up on family, ever."_

" _He was seriously worried about you, Brian. We both were."_

Brian placed his hands on the counter on either side of the computer he was meant to be working at and lowered his head.

No one had ever cared about Brian the way the Torettos and their family did. No one except his mom and Rome, and maybe Rome's mom, but they'd known Brian all his life when they knew him. And the Torettos had only known Brian for a few weeks! These people were rough around the edges but Brian cared about them too.

"Brian Spilner?"

Brian lifted his head and turned around to see two ladies in blue uniforms with the Torettown Police Department logo on them. He nodded. One of the ladies, with brown hair in a bob cut, looked like she never smiled. She was probably in her late forties and had frown lines around her mouth and wrinkles between her eyes. The other was in her mid-thirties with a blonde pixie cut who was a little heavier set.

"My name is Melinda Carmichael. This is my partner, Lisa Raymond. Can we have a minute of your time?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah, of course," Brian agreed, moving to the counter where they stood.

Lisa spoke up next. "We understand you were involved in a drive by shooting two nights ago?" When Brian nodded, she continued. "We've apprehended two suspects and would like you to come in to identify them."

Brian opened his mouth to ask if the suspects were Johnny Tran and Lance Nyugen, but realized a second before that this was his opportunity to get close to the cousins, possibly his only opportunity if they'd been arrested already. Instead, he just nodded again and said, "Okay. Now?"

"The sooner the better," Melinda piped up, making the trip to the station sound like a visit to a theme park.

"Alright, let me just tell my boss."

…

…

He didn't get to see the Trans immediately. First, Brian was taken through to the desk of Lisa Raymond to write an official statement regarding what happened the other night. Brian nearly dropped the pen he was using when he realized he could include the bit where he used his powers to save himself. There was a first for everything, apparently.

The entire time he was writing, cops were bringing in criminals or entering and leaving the room with papers or coffee in their hands. It was remarkably similar to any other police station Brian had ever been in…except, surprisingly, his hometown.

"Hey," he said, quietly calling the attention of Melinda at the desk next to him. "Everyone in here, even the criminals…they're all mutants, right?"

Melinda nodded. "That's right." She smiled. "Dom told us you were pretty new in town."

Dom told the police about Brian?

Dom talked about him?

What did Dom say about him? Was it good?

"Not used to mutant-central yet, huh?" the cop continued, unaware of Brian's mental lapse. "Yep, even the lowlifes are mutated." She giggled a bit at herself and pointed to a guy handcuffed to a bench along the far wall. "That's Jeffrey. Gets picked up at least once a week for shoplifting. He's sort of magnetic and things cling to him if he really wants them." To the bald man next to Jeffrey. "And that's Phil. Phil can phase through walls, but he punches someone in front of the cops every once in awhile just for a warm bed and food for the night." Her smile faded. "It's really sad."

"It's like any other station," Brian said quietly.

Melinda nodded but it was Lisa who said, "Why wouldn't it be?"

Brian jolted slightly in his seat, unaware that Lisa had returned. Was her power teleportation? Leon's hadn't been but hers might be. It wasn't often people could sneak up on Brian. Well, it wasn't often that _regs_ could sneak up on him.

"No reason," Brian answered with a charming smile. "I don't know what I was expecting, honestly."

Lisa sniffed at him with narrowed eyes. "If you're done with your statement, Melinda can take that for you. Then you can ID the suspects and head home."

A nod. "Sure thing."

They didn't take him to an observation room like Brian had been expecting. Instead, he was taken near the window into an office, where Johnny Tran and his cousin Lance were handcuffed to chairs across the desk from what appeared to be the police chief, with Elena on his right side and an angry looking Vietnamese gentleman on his left.

"That's them," Brian told Lisa and Melinda. "Johnny Tran and Lance Nyugen. Yeah, it was them."

"You're sure?" Melinda asked.

Brian nodded, never taking his eyes off the angry but chastised looking Johnny. "Can I ask them one question?" he asked. "Just one, then I swear I'll leave." When neither woman answered, he tore his eyes from Johnny to look imploringly at them. "I just wanna know why they tried to kill me."

Surprisingly, it was Lisa who caved first and allowed it. She moved forward and knocked on the door before opening it. Brian couldn't hear her words to the people inside because the wall between them muffled it, but it only took about thirty seconds for Lisa to get Brian the permission he needed to enter that room, so he didn't much care.

"Sorry to barge in," Brian apologized to the chief.

Elena nodded to acknowledge him but didn't smile, and the older gentleman still looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, but neither of them said anything.

The chief, a man with salt and pepper hair, motioned to the two men in handcuffs. "I believe you had a question for our tight-lipped suspects, Mr. Spilner?"

"Right." Brian looked at Johnny, who glared right back. "Look, I know we didn't meet on the best of terms, but I hardly thought it was worth murdering over. So why'd you do it? Why did you shoot me? Why now?"

Lance kept his head turned away, as if he were pretending this situation wasn't happening. Brian had Johnny's full attention but still received no answer. After ten seconds of silence, the older gentleman shouted something in Vietnamese that made Johnny and Lance both flinch.

"I don't know," Johnny sneered out a moment later. "We'd just returned home for the night when things got strange."

"Strange how?" Brian pressed.

It was obvious that Johnny didn't want to answer, but one glance at the older man – who must've been his father, and he continued.

"I remember something touched my neck. Then we got back on our bikes, picked up some weapons, and tried to kill you," he said. "It wasn't planned. We didn't even talk. I hardly even remember the ride over. All I know is, something happened to us that made us do something we normally wouldn't. We're not dumb enough to commit murder. We wouldn't do this." The last two statements were made to his father and the police chief.

One last time, Brian inclined his head. That definitely sounded like Braga's power. Johnny hadn't approached Brian since that first day, but suddenly he rides off with a gun and tries to murder him? It didn't make sense unless he was being controlled. Braga controlled people with a touch and Johnny said something touched his neck, so Braga using his powers on them was the logical conclusion.

"Well thank you, Mr. Spilner," the chief said and Brian faced him, letting his thoughts drop for the moment. "These two young men refused to talk to me at all. I was about to ask Officer Neves here to use her power to find the truth, but I'm glad it didn't come to that." He also nodded to the older gentleman. "Thank you to you too, Mr. Tran."

With that, Brian was led from the room by Lisa and Melinda. They gave him a card with Lisa's desk number on it in case anything popped up and promised to call him in return if they needed anything more from him. Then Brian was free to go.

As soon as he was a little way from the station, Brian parked his car and pulled out his phone. It rang only once before someone answered.

" _Did something happen, O'Conner?"_

Tanner didn't sound quite worried, but it was the beginnings of something similar.

He shook his head. "Nah, everything's fine. I just left the police station. They caught the guys who shot at me and wanted an ID. But I saw the station and how it works and I got to thinking. Is it possible to move a mutant in a reg pri….a regular jail to one run and patrolled by other mutants?"

There was a long pause before Tanner answered. _"Are you asking me to transfer a specific mutant from wherever they happen to be to the Torettown jail?"_

"Pretty much, yeah," Brian said with a jerky nod and a smile.

He waited while Tanner thought about it. When mutants were arrested back home in Barstow, they stayed in the city jail for anywhere from a day to a week. Then they were carted off to the nearest larger jail or prison, depending on their crimes. Ever getting fully released was a difficult endeavor that took decades. But only if you were a mutant, not a reg.

" _I'll see what I can do, Brian,"_ Tanner answered at length. _"Our stupid mistake nearly got you killed and you've done good work these past six years, so they might allow it."_

Brian smiled, relief already building in his chest as he leaned back in the driver's seat. "Thank you so much, Tanner. This means a lot to me."

Tanner grunted. _"Don't thank me yet, boy. I said I'd look into it. Which mutant were you thinking?"_

"Roman Pearce," Brian said confidently. "I was thinking Roman Pearce."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview for Chapter 8**
> 
>  
> 
> The sun was barely starting to creep over the horizon when Brian opened the door to Dom, skin slick and shiny with sweat and a duffel over his shoulder.
> 
> The look on Dom's face was confused and yet curious and concerned. Brian fought the urge to roll his eyes.
> 
> "Don't tell me to stay away just because Braga is dangerous. I know that already. It's just not the deciding factor."
> 
> "So what is the deciding factor, Bri?" he asked, his voice a deep rumble that Brian could feel in his chest.
> 
> Dom was a Greek artwork of glistening muscles and sculpted abs. Sweat caught on the ridges made by his muscles and the dip of his hips, the fine hairs on his tan body.
> 
> "The town I grew up in? It was runaway mutant city. Mutants scared people, Dom. They scared _me_."
> 
> A shirt smacked him in the face and Brian jumped in surprise. Pulling it away from him, Brian looked down and saw a dark blue jersey with the number '7' and 'Spilner' written on the back.
> 
> It was like a switch was pulled. They all started to move, to breathe and shake their heads and glance around between themselves. Dom looked a bit sick.
> 
> Brian stopped walking abruptly.
> 
> "What? Been eight years and you got nothing to say to me? B?"


	8. Chapter 8

Tuesday dinner had been normal except that everyone kept trying to give him more food than he could eat in a week. If Jesse wasn't offering him more broccoli then Vince was dropping another chicken wing on his plate or Leon was handing him the pasta salad or Letty was literally stuffing mashed potatoes in his mouth, plate be damned, to the amusement and laughter of everyone else around the table.

Wednesday morning, Dom knocked on Brian's door and woke him up at ass o'clock in the morning. The sun was barely starting to creep over the horizon when Brian opened the door to Dom, skin slick and shiny with sweat and a duffle over his shoulder. Usually Brian was good with sudden wakefulness because the dangers of his job required it. That particular sight, though, made him feel like his brain was still running through the molasses of sleep.

"What?" Brian managed. "Dom? Why are you here?"

"I need a shower."

The more muscled man pushed his way into the apartment and took a cursory glance around before making a beeline for the bathroom. Brain scratched his left shoulder absently. "Is yours broken?" he asked.

He leaned in the doorway of the bathroom as Dom fiddled with the knobs, learning how they worked. "No," was all he said until the water was spraying at a temperature Dom accepted. Then he stood and pulled his sweaty white tank off, dropping it to the floor next to the wall.

Dom was a Greek artwork of glistening muscles and sculpted abs. Sweat caught on the ridges made by his muscles and the dip of his hips, the fine hairs on his tan body. A bead of sweat, knocked loose by the removal of Dom's shirt, slid off his collarbone and dripped down his chest. It stalled out in the middle of his abs.

Brian wanted to lick it off.

Jolting out of his thoughts, and actually taking a physical step back, Brian cleared his throat. "So why my shower then?" he asked, his voice coming out deeper than he'd intended.

Dom paused in pulling his jogging pants down and looked up at Brian. His fingers were gripped loosely in the grey fabric but it felt like they were on Brian's speeding heart. Did he know Brian had been looking? Did he know what Brian had imagined doing? Was he okay with it if he had?

"It was on my way back anyway," Dom started to explain after several seconds, "so I figured why not get some use outta you."

Just as Brian opened his mouth to counter the statement with how much 'use' Dom got from him at the garage, Dom spoke again.

"Also I decided I'm going with you to work today."

"Come again?"

…

…

So Dom rode along in the passenger seat while Brian did runs for Harry. Brian had tried to contest it, but apparently this wasn't a spur of the moment decision because Harry was totally on board for the whole thing by the time Brian and Dom walked into the shop.

Brian was given a list of things to pick up and another of things to drop off around the city to and from different customers. Having Dom along was actually helpful because he could help lift the heavier stuff into or out of the back of the truck, but Brian wasn't sure exactly _why_ Dom had decided to come today of all days.

They'd just picked up an old engine Harry had bought off an equally old man when it hit Brian that this, today, was an extension of the night before. Like everyone kept giving him extra food, as if he needed to eat as much as possible because he wouldn't get another chance, Dom was here because of the shooting. He must've been on the lookout for Braga or anyone Braga would send. He didn't even know that Brian was the true target, but he was with Brian just in case something happened.

Would he try and fight off the next attacker? But if their mutation was long range, that wouldn't help. So would he try to get between Brian and the attack? Likely. Or maybe he was there just in case Brian got hurt so that Brian could mimic him again. Brian didn't need the person to be near him to mimic then, and with Dom it would be like diving into a pool whether Dom was around or not, but none of the team knew that.

Well, if Dom was here because of Braga, then Brian could get some answers about him and hopefully figure out a plan to draw the guy out.

"So the Trans," Brian started. "I got called to the station yesterday about the shooting. Turns out they were being controlled by Arturo Bra-."

"Stay away from Braga," Dom interrupted. He turned from looking out the window to Brian driving the truck. "The team knows. We already knew his power and Elena told us what Johnny said. And that's why you need to stay away."

Brian frowned. "Why? Because he's dangerous? I grew up in dangerous, Dom."

"Not like this." Dom shook his head.

Anger jolted through Brian and he pulled the truck over to the side of the road. Shutting the truck off, he turned to Dom. "No. Worse."

The look on Dom's face was confused and yet curious and concerned. Brian fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"The town I grew up in? It was runaway mutant city. Most of the town was made up of regs, in fact I'd even say ninety-nine percent of people were regular humans. But we were a small town surrounded by bigger cities with bigger mutant pops. Mutants used to parade through town on their rush to freedom from whatever police department they were running from. Growing up I saw people killed by mutants, mugged by mutants, robbed by mutants. We couldn't go a week without a state of emergency being called because that nice girl with the bob cut just froze the entire bank and stole all the money, or that guy who looked like a grandpa could steal the air from your lungs with a single touch and he was at large in town."

Brian shook his head, his left hand gripping the steering wheel tightly even though he was facing Dom.

"Mutants scared people, Dom. They scared _me_." He let out a bitter laugh. "It wasn't until I was about fifteen that I realized that they only did those terrible things because they were the ones who were scared and desperate. Cops were right behind them, every step. They'd lost everything and everyone they cared about. They needed resources to escape and we just happened to be right in their path. When I realized that mutants were just scared is when they finally stopped scaring me. But that doesn't mean they stopped committing crimes all over my hometown. So if you think that Braga is the worst mutant I've heard of, hell the worst I've personally seen, then you've got another thing coming. I have seen mutants, Dom, and I've seen them at their worst."

Dom stared at him for several long moments after his rant was over.

Then Dom's eyebrows pulled together. "I doubt Braga is scared."

A startled laugh broke from Brian's lips. "No, no I don't think he is. Not like that." He shook his head again. "That's not the point, though, Dom. The point is that I've dealt with mutants before who would have loved to kill me or hurt me in some way, just to get me out of the way. Hell, I've dealt with regs who would've done the same. So don't tell me to stay away just because Braga is dangerous. I know that already. It's just not the deciding factor."

Now Dom looked proud, though about what Brian wasn't sure.

"So what is the deciding factor, Bri?" he asked, his voice a deep rumble that Brian could feel in his chest. "What would keep you away?"

Brian swallowed. "Honestly, I'm not sure there is one," he admitted. "Braga hurts people, and if I can help stop him, I'm gonna do it. If you go after him to protect your family, then just know I'm going with you. You had better not leave me behind."

Dom reached across the truck cabin to wrap his hand around the side of Brian's neck where it met his shoulder. One of his fingers slipped under the collar of Brian's shirt and Brian held his breath, kept his eyes locked on Dom's. Dom watched his own hand for a moment before meeting Brian's gaze.

"You're something, Brian, that's for sure," he said. "I'm not sure if you're stupid or brave, but either way, I like it." He grinned.

Brian snorted out a laugh as Dom's hand pulled up from Brian's neck and through his blond curls as he pulled his hand back.

"Someone's got to," Brian said with a smile in his voice. He fixed Dom with a stare that was still serious but not as heavy as his previous one. "So we good? You all gonna stop babysitting me and start treating me like a member of this team?"

Dom's grin softened into a pleased smile that Brian wanted to bottle up and keep for a rainy day. "I can't tell you what the others'll do, but I'll include you in any plans we make, alright?"

Brian gave a half shrug and turned back to the wheel, turning the truck on again. "That's the best I can ask for."

…

…

Saturday, Brian opened his door to find Leon on his doorstep.

"Should I just get used to you all showing up or something?" When Leon just looked really confused, Brian shook his head. "Never mind. What'd you need?"

He was hauled off with barely time to brush his teeth and driven to the Torettown City Park in Leon's Nissan Skyline GT-R, going the actual speed limit. When Leon finally parked, Brian was surprised to find them at a baseball field with a little over one hundred people milling about.

"Who's playing?" Brian asked after they were both out of the car.

A shirt smacked him in the face and Brian jumped in surprise. Pulling it away from him, Brian looked down and saw a dark blue jersey with the number '7' and 'Spilner' written on the back.

"We are," Leon quipped with a grin before waltzing off toward the dugouts with a whistled tune, his own jersey in hand.

Brian was so shocked that they'd even had a jersey made for him that it didn't quite register what Leon had said until they were lining up next to Dom, Mia, Letty, Vince, and Jesse on one side of the field.

"Wait, we are? As in, us? Why are we playing baseball?" Brian asked.

Dom smirked at him. "Charity. And you're just in time."

Racing cars, Brian could do that. Running undercover missions? Sure thing. Playing baseball? Not one of Brian's specialties. But when he'd tried to tell Vince and Letty that he'd never played before and probably wasn't any good, Letty had just clapped him on the shoulder and said "Well then you'd better pay attention so you don't get us killed out there, got it, Buster?"

Mutant baseball was nothing Brian had ever experienced before.

The opposing team's pitcher threw the ball at speeds that nearly broke the bats. The outfielders were twins with wings that could fly up and grab the balls from midair. When Letty was first baseman, she sent electricity sparking down the path to paralyze the runners so Dom's team could catch them. Jesse used shields to keep the other team away from him while he ran the bases. Vince used his super strength to match the other pitcher's throws. Leon took people out without them even realizing he was near them, or got on base because no one knew he was nearing it until he was there. Vince was tripped by another player's tail. The wind picked up whenever it was Mia's turn to bat and Brian was mostly certain it was an audience member's fault because Mia kept turning to glare at the crowd every time it happened.

Brian ran faster every time he moved from base to base, pulling on the combined athleticism of both his teammates and his opponents. His swing improved with each ball thrown at him.

He'd lost count of the number of times someone face planted into the grass or the clay. His first encounter with the ground came when he and a girl from the other team nearly collided, but suddenly she was going right through him, and Brian's attempts to stop going forward ended with him on his back and the girl looking down at him with a sheepish grin.

By the time they were in the fourth inning, their brand new jerseys were covered in dirt smears and grass stains, chalk and clay, sweat marks and bits of spit. Brian had never played baseball before, but he was pretty sure this was considered a very rough game, and that eighty percent of the players and audience members were cheating but no one seemed to care.

Brian was on third base, inching out toward home but keeping his back foot on the plate, his eyes drifting from Dom up to bat to the players around the field and back. There. Brian's eyes snapped to the edge of the stands, his focus leaving the game for the first time in what felt like days.

"No way," he breathed out.

A dark skinned male was standing there, white beater shirt and jeans, black over shirt and sneakers, bald head. He was staring at Brian with an expression that wasn't quite a frown but was edging toward it and a dark gaze.

"Brian!"

Jumping, Brian came back to the game and found Jesse skidding into third base. He'd missed the hit. Dom was already on first base and staring at him while one of the opposing players grabbed the ball from the grass in the outfield. Cursing, Brian took off at a dead sprint. One of the other players tried to tag him but Brian ducked and slid home. Dust and clay smeared all along the back side of his pants and jersey, which was something they never talked about in movies, but the umpire called safe so Brian didn't care.

Shooting his eyes back to the stands while on his way to the dugout, Brian didn't see Rome anymore, but he knew he hadn't imagined it. Somehow, someway, Roman Pearce was loose in Torettown.

…

…

The game ended with Dom's team winning. Brian wasn't sure if he was surprised or not. Dom and the others seemed to excel at everything they tried but that game had been close. They'd only won by one point. If they'd been allowed to win because Dom and Mia were Torettos, no one could honestly call the other team out on it because of how intensely everyone played.

Letty tossed Brian a towel to wipe the dirt and sweat from his face and he nodded his thanks. Shaking his head, Brian was reminded of his only gripe about longer hair: it collected mess. Sweat droplets flew from his curls and Brian ran the towel through his hair when he was done with his face and neck. When he pulled the towel away, a bottle of water was being held in front of his face.

Dom nodded when Brian glanced up at him. "Time to go."

Brian accepted the water bottle and Dom's hand to pull himself up, the towel now resting around his neck.

Leon smacked him on the back as they headed out to their cars through the crowds of happy spectators. "Never played baseball, indeed, bruh!" he crowed. "That was one excellent game!"

A smile that was all teeth and joy. "It was fun, man," Brian agreed.

"Sure looked fun."

Brian stopped walking abruptly. The others only got one step ahead of him before stopping as well, and then they all turned around as one unit. Rome stood about ten feet back, hands in his pockets and that same intense look on his face.

"Roman," Brian let out.

Last time they'd seen each other, Rome was shouting at him for joining the police force in Barstow. Then he got arrested for using his mutation to get people to give him their cars.

Rome pulled his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. "What? Been eight years and you got nothing to say to me? B?"

A smile burst onto Brian's face at the nickname and he quickly crossed the distance between them. He opened his arms wide and Rome did the same and then they were giving each other a giant hug that nearly overbalanced them. "Rome! It's really great to see you, bro."

Laughing, Rome pulled back. "I'm not sure if I want to kick your butt or kiss you, man, but damn does it feel good to be outta that shithole."

"Brian?" Mia's voice broke in. Brian turned to see everyone watching them. "Who's your friend?"

The way she said 'friend' was weird, and the others were looking at Brian like they'd never seen him before.

"Right, guys, this is Rome, he's a buddy of mine," Brian answered. "Rome, this is Jesse, Leon, Vince, Letty, Mia Toretto, and Dominic Toretto."

Rome's eyes drifted over each person as Brian pointed at them, but caught on Dom. They stared at each other as if sizing each other up. Dom was one inch taller and buffer, but they were close enough that if a fight broke out, Dom might have competition. After a long few moments where the others just flicked their eyes between the two, Rome nodded like he approved of what he saw. Dom didn't.

"So how do you know each other?" Vince asked, the same suspicion he'd greeted Brian with making a reappearance.

"We used to date each other," Rome answered. Brian rolled his eyes while the others eyes grew large. "Man, it was like heaven, I tell ya. Every hour, finding some darkened corner to get one off. School locker room was our favorite, class going or not. I was one horny teenager and Brian? Brian was even worse. Mmm," he said, closing his eyes for a moment. "Teachers hated us, no doubt. But goddamn, those were the best years of my life."

There was a long pause once he'd finished speaking where no one responded. None of them seemed to be able to shut their mouths or blink or look away from Rome or even breathe right. After several long moments, Brian punched Rome in the arm and snapped his fingers at the others.

It was like a switch was pulled. They all started to move, to breathe and shake their heads and glance around between themselves and between Brian and Rome. Dom looked a bit sick.

"Yeah. That's Rome," Brian said with a shrug.

"That's…not…," Mia held her head for a moment. "That was all bullshit, wasn't it." It wasn't phrased like a question, but Brian nodded anyway while Rome looked hugely pleased with himself. "But I can tell when people are lying, and I…I couldn't tell. Not until now."

Brian let out a breath. "That's his power," he said. "He was known back home as the kid that never shut up, and as long as he keeps blabbering, you keep believing him. Even though ninety-nine percent of the time, he's completely full of shit."

"It's a gift," Rome preened. He held out his hand to Mia, which she accepted, and then shook it more forcefully than she was expecting. "Nice to meet you. Roman Pearce. Nice to meet all o' you." Releasing Mia's hand, he turned to Brian. "Now I know ya'll just finished a game or whatnot, but I'ma steal you away. You owe me a burger," he said.

Brian snorted. "I don't owe you shit, dude." He was still going to buy the burger, but whatever. He turned to Dom and the others. They still looked a bit shaken, a bit wrong-footed. Dom in particular seemed unable to decide between angry and, strangely, seasick. "See you guys tomorrow?" he asked, scrunching his eyes together in concern at Dom.

Jesse raised his hand in a distracted wave and Mia said, "Of course," and then they split ways. Dom never said a word and Brian frowned at their retreating backs.

Rome feinted a punch to Brian's middle that Brian jumped back from and then threw back at Rome, which Rome caught, making them both smile.

"It's been too long," Brian laughed, momentarily forgetting about the strange expression on Dom's face.

Rome wrapped an arm around his shoulder and ruffled his hair. "Yeah yeah, white boy, now show me where I can get a decent burger in this town."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 9**
> 
> Dom was wearing a white tank top, as usual, the muscles in his arms and back out on show for anyone to enjoy. They barely met eyes before Dom turned back to his job.
> 
> "You son of a bitch, I can't believe you never told me!"
> 
> He glared at his old friend. "I was scared," he said.
> 
> "You're still scared, Brian," he hissed. "You're still hiding."
> 
> Letty shook her head. "What would turn your head? Maybe someone with a bit more muscle like Dom."
> 
> Rome chuckled and took a swig of his own beer. "I'm moving in on a bro's territory."
> 
> The looks Brian received from Toretto and the gang were equal parts pointed and confused. Brian gave Rome a look he hoped conveyed how stupid he thought the older man was being.
> 
> Brian's cover had no significant other or set orientation. If he could get Rome to go for it, making a relationship between them seem real would be no problem.
> 
> Brian wasn't aware he'd reached out until both of Dom's hands encompassed his own. It felt like Brian backed up into a hot poker and he felt the blood drain from his face before he realized what had happened. Panic began to set in and Brian's breathing quickened into desperate panting. Brian shivered, his fingers gripping Dom's almost unintentionally.
> 
> He couldn't move his legs.


	9. Chapter 9

Brian's first choice for food was DT's Diner and Garage, even if the food wasn't spectacular, but he took Rome to a place called Mom's Best BBQ. He'd never been to it himself, but had overheard Mia and Letty comparing the chicken and burgers there to Dom's last Sunday at the BBQ and how good it was, so he figured it was a safe bet.

Judging by the pleased sound Roman let out after his first bite, Brian hit the jackpot.

"So you got me out," Rome said around a mouthful of food.

A shrug. "I called in a favor." When Rome kept looking at him, Brian let out a short breath. "One of their guys nearly got me killed, would've if I were reg, so I asked for your life in return."

He was surprised to see Rome out and about, though. Brian had thought Rome would simply be moved to the Torettown jail to be treated more fairly as he burned through a diminished sentence, not free on the streets. Then again, Rome had been arrested for grand theft auto via mutation eight years ago, so the Torettown system probably ruled he'd served his sentence and was free and clear. If not, Elena or Lisa and Melinda would have him back in cuffs within the week.

Rome gave a long suffering sigh and set his burger down. "Now see, I can't stay angry at you when you do stuff like that."

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, watching Brian eat his own burger for a moment. The silence wasn't as comfortable as the ones from when they were kids, but it didn't feel strained either. Rome was assessing him, trying to decide how much of his old friend was there and how much of him was still a cop. Brian was still a cop, but even he didn't know how much of him was still there from before he first went undercover. Hell, since his powers developed.

"They told me 'bout this latest job you doin'," Rome revealed, making Brian choke on his Coke. "Didn't want me rushin' in and blowing your cover, I guess. I see you're still letting everyone think you're a reg."

The tone was disapproving and Brian frowned right along with him.

"It was safer that way and you know it," Brian reminded him. "I couldn't bullshit my way out of it if someone caught on, Rome."

"That's the real bullshit, right there," Rome countered. "You've been bullshitting your whole life, man." He leaned forward again so he could use his hand to make wild gestures. "Anyone ever caught you copying their ability to do math on a test? How fast they can read? How well they can fight? Play basketball? Huh, B?"

Those were all things Brian had done in school and Brian hated that Rome was using those against him.

He glared at his old friend. "I was scared," he said. "You know better than anyone how scared I was."

Rome smacked the table with his hand, calling the attention of the closest other patrons to them. He shot them a charming smile until they looked away and then faced Brian again with a frown.

"You're still scared, Brian," he hissed. "None o' your reg cop buddies know a damn thing about you. You're still hiding."

He was accusing Brian of protecting himself and that pissed Brian off. Growing up, he'd had goddamn panic attacks about being a mutant. Barstow was not the place to be a mutant. He'd gotten so used to hiding it that doing so became the norm. And then he was passed around from station to station and there was no way he could get close enough to anyone to trust them with the secret, so why the hell would he? He wasn't going to tell Joe Schmoe about his powers and hope he didn't spill to his superiors!

Just as he opened his mouth to spit some of that out at Rome, Rome's glare fell away and he smirked instead, halting the words in Brian's throat.

"But not here," Rome said. "That was a fine game you played, Brian. Very fine."

Brian was still frowning. "You don't know if they knew whether I'd played before."

Rome snorted. "I heard you tell that Letty chick on my way in. Besides, some people in the stands recognize you from your work at that auto shop or whatever, or from hanging with Mr. Not-Mayor. Apparently Domination Tor-et-oh don't hang with regs, no matter who they are."

"That's not his name."

"Oh I know that. I ain't stupid," Rome said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Point is, B, that I may not be fine with you still working with the blues, but I'm glad they gave you this job."

Brian rolled his eyes. "Because it got you out of prison?"

Rome frowned. "Because I haven't seen you look this happy since before I lifted that first car." He shrugged his shoulders and picked his burger up again. "So, whatever you've got going here? It's good, and I ain't gonna mess it up for you. I got your back, B."

He held up his fist and Brian was quick to bump it with his own, a smile crawling over his lips. "Thanks, Rome. I appreciate it."

…

…

Rome met Brian at his studio apartment the next morning and Brian drove them in his Eclipse over to Dom's house for the BBQ. The place wasn't packed when they arrived, but Rome had arrived late so they were also later than Brian usually was. Instead of helping to cook, they arrived just as the neighborhood was showing up and beginning to eat. Brian had to park two cars down the street from the actual driveway.

Weird.

In the crowd, Brian could see Letty and Vince. Leon was, predictably, nowhere to be seen. He caught a glimpse of Jesse entering the house through the back door and assumed Mia must be in there as well. Dom was working the grill with Hector.

Dom was wearing a white tank top, as usual, the muscles in his arms and back out on show for anyone to enjoy. They shifted as he flipped the meat on the grill or took a plate from Hector or turned to call to someone across the yard. On one of those turns, he caught sight of Brian. A brief smile, one Brian imagined was full of relief, appeared on Dom's face. He inclined his chin in a greeting and Brian waved in return, also smiling, as he hoped Dom hadn't noticed his staring.

A cold beer touched Brian's bare arm, just below the sleeve of his t-shirt, and he jumped. Rome chuckled while handing Brian the beer properly. When Brian looked back at Dom, the smile had been replaced with a deep frown. They barely met eyes before Dom turned back to his job.

Wait. What?

"Dom doesn't like you," Brian said to Rome, surprise coloring his voice.

Rome chuckled and took a swig of his own beer. "Not surprised. I'm moving in on a bro's territory." He clapped a hand on Brian's shoulder briefly. "What'd you do to win him?"

Brian shrugged, tearing his eyes from the taut line of Dom's back while he cooked to look at Rome. "I don't know," he admitted. "I told him I was looking for a place of my own." He thought back to their first meeting. "I nearly got into it with Vince, and Mia said I was like a cat, and…A few days later I was invited to the races."

The look on Rome's face was flat. "Tell me that's a euphemism."

A startled bark of laughter jumped from Brian's chest. "No, I mean literal racing. Street racing." He lifted an eyebrow at Rome. "It's not illegal here."

Rome smacked him. "Shut up. Shut up! That's wrong. Don't do that." Brian just kept grinning at him. "You better not be lying to me, B. Don't you do it. It's wrong to mess with a man's feeling like this."

"I'm not lying," Brian promised, crossing his heart.

Rome did his best to smack his hands together without destroying his beer, a fiery glint in his eyes. "Shit. I know where I'ma be at night then. When's the next race?"

Brian shrugged. "Jesse'd probably know," he said. Jesse had given his opinion on Brian entering the race and knew cars like the back of his hand and had been the first to approach Brian at the race itself. He'd tell Rome if he thought the overconfident man could hack it in Torettown street races. Brian motioned to the house. "I saw him go inside a few minutes ago."

Nodding, Rome motioned to Brian with his beer. "I'll catch you in a bit."

He disappeared up the back steps and Brian shook his head. Rome hadn't changed much since they were teens.

Brian's eyes roamed the semi-crowded backyard and found themselves drawn back to the grill. Letty was now standing by Dom instead of Hector, who was bringing a plate piled high with chicken wings to one of the tables set up for food. Hector overbalanced and all of the chicken wings would've ended up on the grass except that a young woman threw her hands up and they were suspended in midair. Brian didn't watch what happened next.

The conversation at the grill seemed tense. Brian could only see Letty's face, since she was turned sideways and Dom's back was to him, but her eyebrows were drawn low over her eyes and her lips were down. Dom motioned to nothing with a pair of tongs and Letty's frown deepened.

She said something to Dom but Brian's rusty lip reading skills only let him catch the words "stupid Dom." Dom turned his head enough to scowl at her and she rolled her eyes, hard. Again, Brian caught only the words "Fine, I" and "about it." Then Letty gave a sharp grin. "Chicken," Brian saw her say.

Something told him she wasn't talking about the food.

Letty's eyes turned and caught his. Brian looked away at where Hector was now chatting up the girl who had helped him, in an effort to seem like his eyes had merely been drifting over them instead of him watching them, but he felt it was too jumpy and quick to be believable even as he did it.

He finished off his beer and moved to the side of the house where all the trashcans were set up to throw the bottle away. The bottle was barely in the bag before another was being held out for him. Turning, Brian came face to face with Letty.

Taking the offered bottle, Brian said, "Looks like I'll never have to get my own beer. People keep bringing them to me."

The look on Letty's face became predatory and Brian did his best not to react, taking a swig from his beer to hide his nervousness. "Yeah, your boyfriend probably keeps you in stock, huh?"

Brian spit out the beer. "What?" he sputtered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Rome's not my boyfriend."

"No? You two seem really close for two guys who haven't seen each other in eight years," Letty countered. "And that bullshit he said yesterday-"

"No," Brian said with a shake of his head. "We grew up together and were best friends. That bullshit from yesterday was just that, bullshit. I told you, that's his power. He can make you believe things that aren't true." Brian ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "We're just friends."

For a few moments, Letty simply observed him. She took a drink of her own beer before nodding. "Alright, Buster, I believe you."

Good, Brian thought, and then wondered why he was so relieved that she believed him.

What would it matter if they thought he and Rome were dating? Brian's cover had no significant other or set orientation. Sure, Brian had pretty much been spouting off truths about himself left and right because his cover was vague enough for it, but Brian had faked more than a relationship for a job before. Hell, he'd faked ethnicity before. If he could get Rome to go for it, making a relationship between them seem real would be no problem.

But Brian didn't want to lie about that.

He was Brian Spilner from Arizona. He'd been wandering the country, no home, no loyalties, since he was nineteen. It was left open to Brian what to fill those years with so that he could fake whatever he needed to in order to get close to the Torettown inhabitants. Brian had just conveniently filled them with shit he'd actually done, only leaving out the bit about it all being in service to the cops. They say the best lies are veiled truths, and the less Brian lied, the less likely he was to get caught in his own web.

Brian shook his head. That wasn't why he was glad to not lie about himself here and he knew it. Given a slightly different childhood, Brian could have lived here, could've known these people as Brian O'Conner.

Monica was right. Brian was playing house, and he'd keep playing for as long as he could.

"So what happened?" Letty asked, bringing Brian out of his thoughts. "Between you and motor mouth?"

They moved away from the trashcans when a group of people came over to throw things away. The BBQ was in full swing now and Brian knew he needed to grab some food before it was all gone. It could wait a few minutes though.

"We grew up together," he repeated. Letty lifted an eyebrow and Brian resisted the urge to sigh again. "Rome and I met when we were literally in diapers together. We actually lived pretty much on opposite sides of town, but we were part of the same daycare group. I developed powers first, then him. When my mom died, his parents took me in." And now to add a little lie. "He got arrested when we were nineteen for using his powers to steal cars and I ditched town, never looking back. I didn't know he was free and in town until yesterday."

His answer seemed to appease her a little. "No romance, then?"

Brian led her toward the food, where Dom was now the one placing a plate of hotdogs on the table.

"No. No romance," he told her. "We never had sex or kissed or even lied about it for kicks in school." As they came up next to Dom, he raised both eyebrows at the short woman. "Now, are we done or would you like me to pry into you and Elena next?"

Letty smirked but it was playful rather than predatory this time. "Trust me, you would regret prying," she promised him before reaching around him for a hotdog.

She gave Dom a meaningful look before she pulled back that Brian didn't understand. If he had more time with them, he might start to understand their silent communication, but he didn't.

A fight broke out on the other side of the yard, obvious from the thunder clap and the acid spit just before the fists started flying. Letty looked at Dom and said, "Dom," like an order.

Dom rolled his eyes. "Right." With one glance at Brian, like he was checking the blonde was still there and was pleased that he was, Dom turned and hurried across the yard to where Vince and what appeared to be an off duty cop were already working to break it up.

Brian moved to help as well, but Letty grabbed him by the arm to keep him by the food table.

"They can handle it," Letty told him. "We were talking."

A boom of noise sent Vince, and a few other guests, sprawling to the ground and Brian winced. People started to move away from the fight, creating a sort of wall between Brian and the action, further keeping him at the table with Letty.

"So, what are you looking for, Spilner?"

Not looking away from the fight, even though he couldn't actually see it, Brian asked, "What?"

Letty hit him lightly on the arm to pull his attention back to her. "In a relationship, dumbnut," she clarified when his eyes were on her. "I used to think I'd be with Dom. We even gave it a shot for a bit, but it didn't last. Then I met Elena. Elena and I are pretty steady and _very_ active, but that's not for everyone. So what are you looking for?"

Brian immediately moved to watch the fight again but stopped himself halfway through the motion, forcing himself to keep looking at Letty. A slight upward tick of her lips said she'd caught the action and found it funny.

"Nothing," Brian insisted. "I can't-" He took a deep breath. "Right now, I'm not looking for anything."

Letty shook her head. "Sometimes you ain't gotta be looking for it to find you," she told him. Nudging his arm with the bottom of her cold beer bottle, she asked, "What would turn your head?"

Brian rolled his eyes and started watching the crowd. The fight was mostly over it seemed. Through the dissipating mass of people, Brian caught sight of Vince and Dom manhandling the two fighters while the off duty cop led the way, on the phone with what was likely the police station. The two younger mutants were still trying to fight as they were hauled off and most of the BBQ crowd was following the action closely even as it moved out of the backyard.

"Someone slim and skinny?" Letty asked, offhand. Brian vaguely shook his head once, still watching where Dom was vanishing around the side of the house. "Or maybe someone with a bit more muscle like Dom," she said lowly right in his ear.

Brian clapped a hand over his ear and rubbed it to get rid of the feeling of her hot breath over his skin. He shot Letty a scandalized look and stepped back from her so she wasn't practically draping herself against his side.

"Letty," he started.

It felt like Brian backed up into a hot poker and he felt the blood drain from his face before he realized what had happened.

"A gift from Señor Braga," a completely different voice murmured in his ear. Then he felt something like a blade tear free from his back and his knees locked up as the pain laced through him.

"Le-" he got out before he wobbled where he stood. Brian reached over to steady himself on the table but the motion pulled on the stab wound in his back and he hissed, dropping to his knees.

"Leon!" Letty called, not quite a shout, and then there was a zap of electricity thrumming past Brian's head and a thump behind him as a body hit the ground.

Hands grabbed Brian around the shoulders and lifted him up to his feet, and then started leading him to the house. The pain in his back was intensifying with every second and it was all Brian could focus on. Throb. Throb. Throb. He could feel the blood matting yet another shirt to his skin, pouring down his back and ruining his pants as well. It amazed him that he could walk. Every step felt like it was making something grate in his back near his spine.

The back door was open. They were on the steps. He could see into the house, where Rome and Jesse were standing by the stairs to the second floor and talking. There were people in the backyard but Brian couldn't tell if they were paying attention to him or the fight that had happened or anything else.

He couldn't move his legs.

"Just a bit further," he heard Leon say, but it was like listening to a TV on low from the next room.

"I can't-" Brian choked out. "I can't feel my legs."

His arms strained when his legs actually gave out, falling loose beneath him. Only Leon's arms around him kept him from hitting the floor. Panic began to set in and Brian's breathing quickened into desperate panting.

"I can't feel my legs."

More arms grabbed him and he was hefted into the house, the smack of the back door closing jarring to Brian's already aching head. His back was on fire now, but his whole body felt numb. Something was very very wrong.

He must have blacked out or gone into shock or something because the next thing he was aware of, Brian was lying on the couch on his stomach. There was something pressing heavily on his back where the blade, or whatever it was, had stabbed into him. A moment of clear thought on the edge of consciousness told Brian that his spine was injured, explaining why he couldn't move his legs.

He wasn't panting anymore, but every breath felt like a chore. It took a moment for him to recognize that Rome was the one next to him pressing something into his back, Leon was gone, and that Jesse, Mia, and Dom were there too.

Brian wasn't aware he'd reached out until both of Dom's hands encompassed his own.

"Brian," Dom said, his voice helping to clear Brian's head. Rome was cursing and babbling under his breath but Brian couldn't understand him. "Concentrate. Mimic me."

"What the hell good would that do?!" Rome spat out. "B's been stabbed and you want him to start cooking steaks or something? Shit!"

Brian huffed a laugh and felt more than spit come out of his mouth. Damn, his lung too? What had that guy not hit? Though that explained why breathing felt like a damaged air dancer at a car dealership…that was also on fire. Brian clenched his eyes shut on a groan.

Gosh he hated being on fire. This totally sucked. Someone get the fire extinguisher.

Rome wasn't yelling anymore, and Dom must've let go because Brian couldn't feel his hand anymore. All he could feel was the pain, even if the wheeze of his lungs and the throb of his back were gone. Brian was floating in a sea of fire and there was nothing tethering him to shore. Wasn't he meant to be doing something?

Dom's grip was still tight on his hand, tight enough to cut off circulation. That was the first thing Brian's brain realized when the pain began to ebb. He hadn't let go. Next, he became aware of something that felt like cool water running through his veins instead of blood that was putting out the fire. Then it retreated and Brian shivered, his fingers gripping Dom's almost unintentionally.

"Brian," Dom said, relief heavy in his voice.

Opening his eyes was easy, and the pain was gone from his body. Brian frowned. He hadn't mimicked Dom, had he? Sure, he'd felt the cool healing effect, but not the total immersion he'd basked in when he mimicked Dom. How was he okay?

A tanned Asian-American woman with dark blonde hair stepped back and into view, her hands losing a glow as she went.

"Thanks, Suki," Leon said from where he was standing near the kitchen doorway.

She nodded. "How are you feeling?" she asked Brian.

Brian nodded as he sat up, but Dom didn't release his hand. "You heal people?" He rolled his shoulders as best he could without pulling his hand free. There wasn't even a slight ache, and breathing was easy. He could still feel the blood wet stick on his clothes though. And he could feel his legs, which was something he would be forever grateful for.

"Yes," Suki said. "I worried you were too far gone, though." Dom's grip on his hand tightened but when Brian glanced at him, his expression hadn't changed. "I'm glad you weren't."

"Thank you," Brian said with a nod of his head.

She smiled. "You're welcome."

Suki received hugs from Leon, Jesse, and Mia on her way out, and then they were alone again.

"Not sure how to feel about you almost dying all the time," Jesse murmured. "It's hell on my nerves, bro."

Brian gave a reassuring smile to the younger man. "Sorry. I promise I'm not doing it on purpose." He gave Dom a guilty look. "I couldn't mimic fast enough."

"Speaking of!" Rome said loudly, drawing attention to himself as he came from behind the couch. There was a bloody towel in his hands that he threw to the side without looking where it landed. "Since when can you mimic powers?"

The looks Brian received from Toretto and the gang were equal parts pointed and confused. Brian must've been out longer than he thought if they'd had time to tell Rome about his secondary mimic ability. He gave a nervous shrug.

"Since…Ms. Hensly thought Brenda had a cousin when we were sixteen," he admitted.

Rome blinked twice before recognition flared in his eyes. "Mariselle?" he said. "That was because of you?" he asked accusatorily. Brian nodded guiltily. "Brenda had to tell her eight times she had no cousin Mariselle and still we all thought Hensly was batty for the rest of school. How'd you do it?"

Brian gave Rome a look he hoped conveyed how stupid he thought the older man was being.

"Oh. Oh, me? You copied me?" Rome asked. When Brian just kept staring at him, Rome stepped forward and smacked Brian on the arm hard enough to make him flinch. "You son of a bitch, I can't believe you never told me!"

"I think we've got more important things to worry about," Mia spoke up, breaking the moment between the two friends.

Dom was still holding his hand. Brian shot a quick glance at their hands before focusing on Mia, but gave no other indicator that he knew Dom still held on so that Dom wouldn't let go.

"Letty told Dom what that guy said," Mia said.

" _A gift from Señor Braga."_

Dom gripped his hand again, this time to pull Brian's focus. When their eyes locked, Dom looked angry and disappointed at the same time. "Why're you going after Braga, Brian?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 10**
> 
>  
> 
> Opening the door revealed Vince and Dom. The more muscular men shifted from surprise at the door opening to deep rooted frowns at the sight of Monica, and Brian had to rethink his previous thought.
> 
> Brian turned to look at Dom, his heart rate picking up. "Have you been watching me?"
> 
> Monica caught his eyes. "You can't do this alone, Brian. I'm supposed to help keep you safe. Let me do my job."
> 
> He shifted a few of the shirts around and a faint shine caught his attention. There, hidden underneath his shirts but peeking out, was his MCF badge.
> 
> Rome leveled an unimpressed, daring look at Vince. "You sayin' my homeboy, B, is goin' behind my back?"
> 
> "The plan is working then," Monica noted.
> 
> Rome frowned. "What plan?"
> 
> Brian was going to have to tell them the truth. He'd have to tell them he was a cop.
> 
> Brian's breath stuttered when Dom reached a hand up to cup his neck. His fingers tangled in the hairs at the base of Brian's skull and Brian tingled with anticipation.
> 
> "The plan to make Braga come kill me himself."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Fanfiction Writer's Appreciation Day!

"Why're you going after Braga, Brian?"

Brian blinked. "We talked about it together, Dom," he said, trying to come off as clueless as possible. "I said I would help you get him."

Dom frowned. "Exactly. _Together_. So why are you doing it alone?"

Brian couldn't look away from Dom. Mia had called her brother gravity, and Brian certainly felt like he was being sucked into those eyes. If he didn't do something soon, Brian would never be able to pull himself out again.

He also couldn't lie with Mia in the room, and she could probably tell he was hiding something anyway. He'd have to hope his words were truthful enough that she'd overlook it.

"I haven't been going after Braga alone," he said, voice strong and true.

He hadn't been after Braga on his own since that night at the warehouse. Right now he was just waiting around for Braga to come to him.

When the room remained quiet and it was obvious that one simple statement wasn't going to cut it, Brain added, "You can ask Harry. I go to work or I'm with you."

"And did Harry know you'd gone out that time you first mimicked someone?" Dom asked.

Well, Brian didn't have a good answer for that. Harry hadn't known. He likely assumed that if Brian wasn't at the shop that he was doing something for his case, but he hadn't known that Brian had spotted his guy or that he was out tracing said guy. And even if he had, Harry wasn't the best liar. Brian didn't actually want the gang to go question him if it could be helped.

Steeling himself, Brain gripped Dom's hand the way Dom had gripped his. "I swear to you, Dom. I swear, I haven't been chasing Braga around without telling you."

Dom stared at him, brown eyes into blue, for several long moments. He already looked like he'd accepted Brian's answer when he turned to his sister for confirmation. Mia gave a half shrug before nodding, letting Dom know Brian was telling the truth.

"So then why is it he keeps sending people to kill you?" Mia asked, crossing her arms.

Brian looked at where Dom's slightly tanner fingers were holding his own. "When I showed up to work exhausted…I'd been after Braga the night before. He must've found out I was snooping."

"Braga's the one you saw buying parts and acting suspicious?" Dom asked. Brian nodded without looking at him.

"I didn't know you guys knew him at the time," he said. "I really was checking him out because I was worried what he was up to."

"And you're close with Torettown's main man, Dom," Jesse added, looking a bit impressed actually.

Leon crossed his arms. "Setting an example," he said. "Even if you're friends with the mayor's family, you can't mess with him. Braga's getting ballsy."

"We should tell Elena," Mia said, already moving to grab the phone. "The TPD can double the watch for him. If he's getting this confident, he'll get sloppy."

With a nod, Dom finally released Brian's hand and stood up. Brian's hand felt frozen cold in the mild air that replaced Dom's fingers.

"We also keep a watch on Brian," Dom said. It was a tone that broached no arguments.

Brian argued anyway. "What? No, Dom, don't-" How was he supposed to meet with Monica or call Tanner if someone was always with him?

"I agree," Rome broke in, crossing his arms over his chest. Brian glared at him. Rome was supposed to help with his case, not get in the way of it. "Havin' an escort when you ain't at your place is safest, B," he said in response.

When he wasn't at the apartment.

Brian nodded before someone could refute the statement. "Fine, fine." He sighed. "You guys can baby me if you want to. Pick me up for work in the morning, follow me on my deliveries, whatever. But not in my apartment, alright? You drop me off in the afternoon and back off."

The others in the room looked ready to protest, but Rome stepped in again.

"I can't imagine none o' you would be too pleased if someone followed you into your own homes, now would you? That loss of privacy? That loss of me time, you-know-what-I-mean time. And this ain't Psycho with a killer and a knife coming through the shower curtain or nothing. Brian can handle himself for a few hours a night while we all recharge our batteries for the next day."

Sometimes, Brian loved Rome and his mouth.

That's how Brian earned himself a buddy system that lasted from 8 AM until 10 PM, except for bathroom breaks. Leon was taking first shift in the morning, with Jesse taking over at lunch and Letty finishing the day off. They'd switch out who was with him between the six of them from day to day.

Brian wondered how long until he wanted to kill either them or himself.

…

…

"Let me see."

Brian took a step back from Monica when her hands reached for his shirt. Her expression turned to stone.

"Do not test me, O'Conner. Let me see."

She could probably take him down in a fight, if Brian hadn't mimicked so many fighting styles that regs were boring to him now. He sighed and let her get in his personal space. Monica grabbed his shirt and pulled it up to bunch under his armpits. Her fingers never touched him, but her eyes were like an x-ray in their intensity. After a minute, she shifted to check his back with the same careful attention to detail.

"Not a mark on your perfect surfer boy skin," she commented as she let his shirt drop back down.

Brian adjusted it and turned to face her. "I told you, I'm fine. Suki was at the BBQ and she healed me."

Monica's eyes held a fire. "Don't patronize me. This is three times now on this mission that you've been injured and I've only known about it after the fact. I know I'm supposed to wait for your call but obviously your past ops have taught you to work alone and I will never get that call. From now on, I'm going to be near enough to help if trouble starts."

Oh god. Brian resisted the urge to grimace. "Monica-"

Her index finger stopped just in front of his eyes. "No. You don't get a say in this anymore. They severed your _spine_ , O'Conner. They punctured a lung."

Brian's legs tingled so bad he had to go sit on the bed or risk falling down. He'd only lost his legs for a few minutes, but the mere memory of earlier that afternoon made him feel like he was losing them all over again. Hopefully a good night's rest would clear his head.

Or a good race. There was a race tomorrow night. Rome was gonna be in it. Leon and Vince too. Brian would have to jump in at some point. The controlled adrenaline would do him good.

Monica knelt in front of him and caught his eyes. "See? You see this? You can't do this alone, Brian."

She reached up and touched his face gently. It made Brian remember a large hand on his neck, thick fingers in his hair.

"This operation is hurting you, and I'm supposed to help keep you safe. Let me do my job." Monica's words were as gentle as she ever sounded, that edge of toughness lingering around the edges but still comforting. "Don't let me find you unconscious in the dirt or full of bullet holes. Neither me nor my job would survive it."

Brian reached up and pulled her hand from his cheek. He shifted his feet slightly further apart just to prove he could. The realization that he was mentally checking himself made him realize she was right. He was floundering and needed help from someone who knew everything.

"Fine," he agreed, letting her hand drop. "But try to keep out of sight."

He stood up, patting his legs to rid them of the last of the tingling sensation, and then led the way to the door. Starting tomorrow, his life was going to be very difficult. Dom and the crew watching him all the time and Monica hovering about. It hadn't started yet but Brian already felt suffocated. For the first time, he wanted this operation to be over with already.

Opening the door revealed Vince and Dom, Vince's hand raised to knock on the door. The street light outside shone off Dom's bald head but otherwise the world beyond the door was rather dark. The more muscular men shifted from surprise at the door opening to deep rooted frowns at the sight of Monica, and Brian had to rethink his previous thought.

Forget the mission, he wished he'd died that afternoon so he wouldn't have to deal with this.

"Hey," he said after a long silence had passed. "Dom, Vince….This is Monica. She's a friend of mine. Monica, these are my other friends, Dominic and Vince," he introduced, mind working frantically to come up with a good reason why she was in his apartment.

Other than saying he was sleeping with her.

Monica held out her hand and shook both of theirs, then stood tall once more. "It's nice to meet you," she said.

"How do you know the Buster?" Vince asked, that same suspicious tone in his voice that he had used for Brian and Rome. Brian was starting to realize that Vince was suspicious of everyone when they first met.

"Monica!"

All four people gathered at Brian's door jumped at Rome's loud shout of joy. The dark skinned man shouldered his way past Dom and Vince as if they didn't exist and threw his arms around Monica. He held on tight like she was all that mattered and winked at Brian over her shoulder.

What bullshit was he about to pull?

"I've missed you, baby!" Rome cheered as he pulled back. Before she could answer, Rome leaned in and kissed each of her cheeks and then gave her a peck on the lips. "How's my hunny been in my long absence?"

It had barely clicked for Brian that Rome was claiming Monica was his girlfriend when she responded with a return peck.

"Barely surviving," she said like every moment had been a chore. "I swear if you get busted again, I'll get arrested too just so I can get in and kill you myself."

Rome laughed but it sounded worried, which made the corners of Dom's lips lift even though it was obvious he was still not fully buying what they were selling.

Wrapping his arm around Monica's shoulders, Rome assured her, "I swear. No more prison for me. And B," he turned to pull Brian up under his other arm. "Thanks for keeping my girl in the loop and all for me. I really appreciate it, bro."

"We both do," Monica said. "For all he talks, Roman is awful at keeping in touch through the written word," she told Dom and Vince.

Brian did his best to shrug while being held under Rome's arm. "No problem. Your address wasn't the one that kept changing, so it wasn't hard."

Vince crossed his arms. "So your buddy's girlfriend just happens to be in your apartment, alone with you?"

Rome leveled an unimpressed, daring look at Vince. "You sayin' my Monica ain't bein' true? Or that my homeboy, B, is goin' behind my back? Eh, Vince? Brian strike you as that kind of guy?"

Monica lightly slapped Rome's cheek. "If anything, I'm worried about _you_ not being true."

Rome looked affronted but when he opened his mouth, Brian cut in.

"How about you two talk inside for a bit?" he suggested, pushing them inside and shutting the door. He let out a heavy breath at the wood but resisted the urge to thump his head against it.

"They seem like a handful," Dom noted. Brian couldn't tell if he was amused or simply stating fact.

Brian nodded. "Yeah. Always have been." He turned to face them. "So, what did you need at nine at night? I thought babysitting duty started in the morning."

Vince scowled. "Braga was spotted in the area so we thought we'd pop by and check on you." He narrowed his eyes at the door. "Didn't expect to find a woman with you."

"Also wanted to know if you'd be in the race tomorrow night," Dom contributed, his eyes dancing in a way that challenged Brian, called him out. Are you chicken, Brian? Can't win without mimicking me I bet.

Brian felt himself bristle at the silent insinuations. "I'll be there," he accepted.

Dom grinned. It was only when Dom leaned back that Brian realized they'd been standing so close. "I look forward to it." He clapped a hand on Brian's shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bri."

Somehow, that seemed to promise more than a race. Brian didn't know what else, but it was something warmer, more…domestic. And he wanted it. After all this chaos, Brian wanted Dom's warmth and domesticity badly.

While Dom walked back to Vince's Nissan, Vince explained that they were going to hang around for awhile just in case Braga decided to be stupid. Then he gave a wave, which Brian returned, and went to join Dom in the car on surveillance.

When the apartment door shut behind him once more, Brian found himself face to face with two expectant looks.

"Braga was seen nearby so they're here to watch my back," Brian explained.

Monica frowned and Rome cursed aloud.

"The plan is working then," Monica noted. "Now we just have to hope your friends the Torettos don't scare him off."

Rome frowned. "What plan?"

"The plan to make Braga come kill me himself."

"Wait, you mean to tell me this whole stabbing business was part of the plan?" Rome growled. "I thought you were gonna die, B!"

Brian grabbed Rome by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "Dying isn't part of the plan, Rome. It's the exact opposite of the plan. What happened today? It was more than we expected."

"Braga controls peoples' minds and makes them come take a shot at Brian. Each time they fail, Braga gets more upset that the cop after him is still alive. So eventually, soon, he'll try to take Brian out himself," Monica explained. "When he reveals himself, Brian and I will arrest him."

"And what if he touches you, hm?" Rome countered. "What if you take him down and he makes contact and suddenly you find yourself pulling the trigger on Brian instead of Braga?"

Brian released Rome and it was enough to draw attention. "Monica is good at her job, Rome. She won't let me down."

Rome didn't look convinced, but Monica seemed pleased with his faith in her.

"The pretty ones always get you in trouble, B. Just remember that," Rome warned, but wouldn't continue the conversation from there and it dropped.

Shaking his head, Brian changed topics. "So about the race tomorrow," he said.

Rome snapped his fingers. "Right. I was coming to tell ya. I don' need to borrow your car tomorrow afterall," he said with a glint in his eye. "I gotta guy who hooked me up with this sweet ride. We're gonna make some minor adjustments to it tomorrow and enter it in the race that night."

"You sure you can trust this guy? It's always the cars that get you in trouble, Rome," he paralleled Rome's earlier statement.

"Don't worry, I got this," Rome assured him with a dismissive wave of his hand. "This guy? Technopath. Totally cool. Not all above board, but as legal as a guy can be when toeing the line, ya feel?"

Monica rolled her eyes. "You leave prison to hang out with law breakers?" she asked. "How is that any way to repay what Brian did for you?"

Rome frowned at her. "I ain't going back to prison. And trust me, this guy ain't like that. I know prison bitches when I see 'em and him? Nah. Too slick for that. Too good at the system. Too good for prison bars, girl. Worst he's earned is an overnighter in holding, I guarantee."

Brian decided not to push it. It was Rome's decision and nothing he said would change the older man's mind.

They decided to end on that lighter topic and promised to see each other tomorrow night. Then Monica pulled Rome's arm over her shoulders and cuddled into him before they left, looking every bit like the couple they claimed to be.

Alone, Brian collapsed on his bed face first.

He couldn't keep this up. Sure, his cover wasn't broken, but Rome wasn't the best liar. If it weren't for his mutation, his lies would be obvious more than seventy-five percent of the time. And Mia was never going to buy it, not with her ability to see the truth of people, their hearts and intentions.

He had to head this off before it crashed and burned in front of his eyes. Brian was going to have to tell them the truth. He'd have to tell them he was a cop.

Dom would understand, right? Or, he wouldn't be too upset, right? They were both after Braga. Brian had only lied about small, present things, not about who he was, what he liked, what he'd done. They could work together to bring Braga to justice. Dom would understand why he'd lied. Wouldn't he?

What would Brian do if he didn't? If he threw Brian out, or attacked him, or never spoke to him again, what would Brian do? He'd known he would lose this pseudo-family when this job was over, because that was the nature of the job. To lose them before it was over because they hated him?

Brian groaned and covered his head with his pillow, wondering if he could smother himself before morning, and if that would help solve any of his problems.

…

…

Leon knocked on the door at 7:59 AM, just as Brian was stepping out of the shower. Brian opened the door with no more than a towel wrapped around his waist, but Leon barely glanced at him before throwing himself down on the couch and propping his feet on the coffee table.

"You've gotta be at work in fifteen, right?" Leon asked.

Brian nodded. "Yeah."

"They won't even know I'm there," Leon assured him, leaning back into a completely relaxed position and seeming to sleep while Brian finished getting ready for work.

Well, Leon hadn't lied. Even Brian forgot he had a tail for ninety percent of the morning. Every once in awhile he'd catch sight of Leon talking to someone, but mostly Leon used his ability to remain practically invisible to the customers at The Racer's Edge.

The most exciting thing to happen that morning was a guy who looked about nineteen knocking over a display of spinner wheels near the bathroom.

At 12:12, Jesse slipped through the doors to The Racer's Edge, apologies for being late already spilling from his lips. Leon slipped his hands into the pockets of Jesse's vest, and then his pants, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"No smoking on the job," he said, stuffing them in his own pockets before heading out the door, watcher duty officially over.

Jesse watched him go with a frown on his face that would've made puppies jealous. "Shit."

Brian took his lunch and they went to the McDonald's around the corner. While Jesse was inhaling his second large fry, Brian started feeling twitchy and angry. He cast his attention around the lobby and focused on a woman sitting alone by the window. Mother to three, receptionist, oil paint on her clothes and charcoal under her fingernails, four hours sleep on average, nicotine addiction.

He didn't say anything to Jesse when he left and Jesse barely noticed he was gone.

When he sat back down and slid the cigarettes into Jesse's open vest pocket, the younger male stopped fidgeting and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Going into withdrawal is shit on my concentration, dude," Brian said nonchalantly before gathering his trash up and throwing it away. "Just don't smoke in the store."

He wished he could help Jesse quit smoking altogether, but he didn't have the time at the moment, and neither of them could afford the stress and withdrawal symptoms of going cold turkey right now.

Harry actually liked having Jesse in the store that day because Jesse knew cars and Jesse talked four separate people into buying high end parts for their cars that they hadn't intended to buy when they entered the store.

"If you didn't already work for Toretto and the city, I'd hire you in a heartbeat, son," Harry told him, slapping him on the back.

The laugh Jesse gave was almost nervous. "Right." He looked over at Brian. "I'ma be outside if you need me." He pulled a cigarette out so that there was no doubt as to what he'd be doing outside, then nodded and headed for the door.

"He's jumpy," Brian said in explanation when Harry's attention turned to him in Jesse's absence.

Harry shook his head. "I've known him far longer than you, Brian. Don't think I don't know that already. He's also brilliant. Jesse designed this building for me when he was seventeen."

Brian was no architecture enthusiast, but he suddenly had a lot more respect for the layout of The Racer's Edge than before, and for the twenty-three year old who designed it.

…

…

Brian expected Letty to show up for her shift of Brian Watch at about 5:30, and The Racer's Edge closed at 5:00, so Brian would have time to go home and get ready for the races tonight before she arrived. However, he returned from a delivery at 4:58, Jesse fiddling with the truck radio in the passenger seat, and found Dom waiting in the parking lot instead of a short but formidable Puerto Rican woman.

"Hey, Dom!" Jesse greeted enthusiastically, giving him a brief one-armed hug. "Where's Letty?"

Dom smiled at Jesse before his eyes rested on Brian. "I switched with her," he said. "Figured I'd be going to the races anyhow, so she can enjoy some time with Elena and I'll take Bri to the race tonight after my shift."

Jesse nodded. "That makes sense. So are you here to cut me early?" he asked, checking his watch and reading just after five p.m.

"Yeah. I'll see you tonight."

"See ya, Jess," Brian threw in. Jesse waved at him with his own goodbye before heading for his car to get ready for his own racing tonight.

After checking out with Harry, Brian led the way back to his studio apartment behind the shop. Dom repeated what Leon did that morning and took a seat on the couch, though he didn't put his feet on the table. Brian moved to the dresser to change out of his work uniform.

He pulled his black shirt off and threw it in the hamper next to the dresser, then opened the drawer to grab a new one. He shifted a few of the shirts around, debating between two shirts of different shades of blue, and a faint shine caught his attention. There, hidden underneath his shirts but peeking out, was his MCF badge.

If Brian had a home he returned to after each mission, he would probably have a collection of badges, one from every department he'd been part of. It would be a nice little collection ranging up and down California, into Arizona and Nevada, in county, state, and national organizations. As it was, he simply returned each badge when he left that department's employment and did his best to forget them.

The MCF badge was similar to any other badge – shiny chrome with the words Mutant Control Force written around a faux gold cameo of an eagle with wide spread wings. The corner of the badge taunted Brian where it stuck out from under one of his t-shirts. It would be easy to pick it up, right now, and tell Dom who and what he really was.

"I've seen that woman before."

Brian was amazed that he didn't jump at the sound of Dom's voice.

"Monica?" he asked, deciding on the darker blue shirt and dropping the lighter one back in the drawer, fully covering the badge.

Dom stood from the couch as he nodded. "She's been to see you before. Always in the evening after you get hurt."

Brian turned to look at Dom, his heart rate picking up. "Have you been watching me?"

He got a shrug in response. Then Dom began walking over to him. "I had Mia look into her, found out she was a reg, in town visiting relatives. I wondered how you met, how often, if she knew you'd been hurt."

Dom was now close enough to touch. His bulkier frame blocked some of the light, casting a shadow on Brian and giving himself a vague silhouette. Brian swallowed, suddenly very aware that he was still not wearing a shirt but not moving to pull one on.

"I thought you were sleeping with her," Dom admitted, his voice dipped low.

A slight lean forward and they'd be touching now. Brian could feel the heat coming off Dom's skin and clothes. This close, he could tell that he was the taller of the two of them. This close, Brian could read the anxiety in Dom's brown eyes like words in a large print book.

Brian's lips quirked up at the edges. "Monica and I have never even held hands," he assured Dom. "We're not even proper friends. I haven't slept with her."

"That's good," Dom murmured.

Brian's breath stuttered when Dom reached a hand up to cup his neck, just like he had in the truck but somehow more intimate. His fingers tangled in the hairs at the base of Brian's skull and Brian tingled with anticipation.

He shouldn't do this. Dom was part of a mission. Dom didn't know he was a cop. But Dom knew what Brian had done in service to the police and didn't judge him for it. Dom treated him like family even though they'd only known each other a few weeks. Dom encouraged his mimicking, and cared for him when he was hurt. Dom was also everything Brian wanted, from his firm muscles and vaguely tanned skin to his family values and dedication to protecting others. When this operation was over, Brian was going to lose all of this. Hell, Brian might lose it all before catching Braga, when he told them he was a cop. If Dom was going to be furious at him and cast him aside anyway, couldn't Brian allow himself a moment of happiness first?

Without giving himself time to talk sense to himself, Brian dropped his shirt and grabbed Dom's face gently but strongly in both hands before he leaned forward to press his lips to Dom's in a rough kiss. In response, Dom pushed Brian back with just enough force to knock the dresser drawer closed, locking away Brian's secrets for one more night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 11**
> 
>  
> 
> Mia flipped around and slapped him, hard, across the face. There were tears in her eyes and Brian felt his heart drop to his stomach. He had to tell them. He couldn't keep hiding.
> 
> "You know what they do to mutants outside of Torettown? Do you know what happens to mutants in prisons?"
> 
> Rome gagged. "Did we not just talk about personal time?"
> 
> Following Rome over was a man with buzz cut black hair and a hint of both a mustache and a beard. "This here's Tej Parker."
> 
> Brian interrupted. "I don't want to know what you get up to. Personal time, Rome, remember?"
> 
> Tej poked him in the side of the head, just above his ear. "Don't whine. It's not attractive."
> 
> Brian would take what he could with Dom, covet it, horde it, because he knew this was all coming to an end and soon.


	11. Chapter 11

The crowd at the race that night was just as big as the last one and Brian saw a lot of familiar faces. Hector and Suki were there, but also a lot of the people Vince once asked him to mimic, like Jesus and Keith, Heather, Dejoun, Sarah, and Gisele. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people who bought parts from Harry were also in attendance, whether to show off their cars or drive them.

The rest of the team weren't there yet when Brian and Dom arrived, but Rome was and he approached Brian almost immediately while the first race got underway. Following Rome over was a man with buzz cut black hair and a hint of both a mustache and a beard. His skin was lighter than Rome's and he was also several inches shorter, but he carried himself with enough confidence and surety to match Brian's old friend.

"Hey, B," Rome greeted, clasping hands with Brian and giving him a quick slap on the back hug. "This here's Tej Parker. He's the guy I told you 'bout. Tej, this is my boy, Brian."

Tej had a strong grip when they shook hands and held Brian's gaze. Brian liked him more already. "Nice to meetcha."

Brian blinked. He knew that voice. "Wait, did you host a race a few weeks back?" Tej sounded like the guy who ran the race the night Brian mimicked Dom.

"One? Man, I host 'em all!" Tej laughed. "It's a lucrative business."

Brian nodded. "And you give cars to all your friends?" he asked, glancing between Tej and Rome.

Tej gave a half shrug. "Only the ones I can see being partners with," he said with a grin that seemed to hide a secret joke only Tej understood.

"Tej also hooked me up with a place to stay," Rome added, bright white teeth showing. "We got to talkin' 'bout the fact that racing wasn't illegal here. That's how we came to our agreement."

"Agreement?" Brian asked sharply.

"I provide the means, he earns the money," Tej explained. "My car and my garage. His driving skill and speed. It's a perfect combination, baby."

He and Rome bumped fists and Brian felt himself relaxing. Tej really did seem like an upfront and above-the-table guy, with his most illegal act being running the races – which wasn't illegal in Torettown. Brian would keep an eye on him anyway, just to be sure, and maybe have Monica run a profile on him so he knew what to look out for.

Tej lightly hit him in the shoulder, making him shift his shoulder back slightly but not upsetting his balance any. With another of those secret joke grins, he said, "Calm down, bro. I feel like I'm about to get arrested with that sour look on your face."

Brian's entire body went stiff and his eyes shot to Rome, who looked extremely guilty. "Can I talk to Rome for a minute?" he asked Tej in a quiet, almost dangerous tone of voice, without tearing his eyes from Rome.

"Of course, man. Of course," Tej agreed, looking like the cat that got the canary. "I'll see you both later when you're racing. Later, man," he said with a brief touch to Rome's shoulder before disappearing into the crowd to go host the races.

"Bri-"

"I can't believe you!" Brian hissed out, getting up in Rome's personal space. "You were told so that you wouldn't blow my cover and then you turn around and tell some random guy? What, just cause he's renting you a room and lending you a car? Goddamit, Rome!"

Rome frowned. "Hey, it ain't like that," he said. "We can trust this guy, B. I know we can."

Brian ran his hands through his hair roughly so he wouldn't punch Rome in the face. "I've got enough problems right now. I don't need to be worrying that my secret's gonna be all over the streets."

"Brian," Rome stated so forcefully that it made Brian's spiraling thoughts halt. His gaze was just as fierce. "Your secret is safe with Tej."

"How do you know?" Brian asked seriously.

Expression not changing, Rome answered, "Because I trust him."

A lot must have changed in the last eight years, because the Rome that Brian grew up with did not trust so easily. He would've thought that doing time in mutant prison would've hardened Rome against strangers, but with Tej he was all open arms, spilling secrets and becoming partners-

Partners.

Tej's secret joke smile.

Brian grimaced. "Ahh, Rome, really?" he asked, taking a half step out of Rome's personal space so he could wave his arms in front of himself without hitting Rome. "I didn't need that mental picture, bro."

Rome gave a toothy grin. "You the one that thought it. I didn't say nothing." He heaved a large but light sigh. "It's the start of a beautiful new life, B."

"Stop, stop!" Brian interrupted. "I don't want to know what you get up to. Personal time, Rome, remember?"

When Rome just continued to give him a shit eating grin, Brian just had to punch him to make it go away. Rome stumbled back a step and put a hand over his chest where he'd been struck, but he was laughing so Brian knew it hadn't actually hurt him.

Reminder: have Monica keep an extra close watch on Tej Parker.

There was heat behind him and Brian's serious thoughts evaporated for the moment as a content feeling overwhelmed him.

"Hey, Dom," he greeted before turning around. Rome stopped chortling and stood up straighter in Dom's presence.

"Hey yourself," Dom responded. "You wandered off. Need I remind you that the last time you were in a crowd, you nearly died?"

Once again, the feeling of losing his legs made his lower body tingle and his back ache. Brian shook his head and shifted his stance to keep himself out of those thoughts and memories. He was racing tonight. The adrenaline would help, as would the feel of a car humming under his body and the movements of his feet needed to move the car the way he wanted to.

"Yeah, but this time I've got you and Rome around," Brian said, a wavering tease in his voice. And somewhere in the crowd was Monica as well in case Braga himself made an appearance.

Dom touched Brian's lower back and the tingles in his legs vanished. He could feel Dom's fingers spread out over his shirt and it was the last reminder his brain needed that he still had his legs, that his spine was fine. It also made Brian remember earlier that evening, before they got ready for the races: shirts and sheets, light shining on sweat, wide hands in his hair, down his chest, trailing his back, heat everywhere.

"Augh, Brian!" Rome gagged. "Did we not just talk about personal time? I didn't need that image either!" He even covered his face with his hands like the two were doing something inappropriate at that exact moment.

Not taking his eyes off Dom, Brian grinned and said, "You thought it. I didn't say nothing." Dom smiled back.

…

…

After the races were done, Dom stayed the night. It was the best sleep Brian could remember having in the past eight years.

In the morning, while Dom made use of the shower, Brian slid his badge into his back pocket. He had to tell them. He couldn't keep hiding.

…

…

"You gotta learn to hold off on the NOS. And you switched gears like a novice."

Rome gaped at Tej for a moment, bits of pulled pork and bread visible in his mouth from the large bite he'd just taken of his sandwich. Brian kicked him under the diner table. "Manners, Rome."

Swallowing, Rome pouted. "I raced fine last night."

Tej lifted an eyebrow. "Tell that to my Spyder GTS. She was weeping after that race. Took me an hour to make her feel better."

"Hey, I won, didn't I?"

"True," Dom broke in from his seat to Brian's right, empty plate in front of him, "but I think even our Buster could beat you."

Now Rome looked insulted. He dropped his sandwich back to his plate. "What? What? That ain't right, man. _I_ taught _him_ to race, alright? I taught him everything he knows about cars."

Brian chuckled and shook his head as he popped a fry into his mouth. "Maybe when we were sixteen, Rome, but I've changed a lot since then."

Rome flicked condensation from his glass at Brian, which just made him giggle again, joined by Tej and earning a smile from Dom.

"Ain't changed that much," Rome muttered petulantly. "Better driver than me. Now that's some bullshit."

Tej poked him in the side of the head, just above his ear. "Don't whine. It's not attractive."

"Oh I'll show you attractive," Rome replied as if gearing up for a fight, turning in his seat to face the shorter man while Tej just smirked at him.

"Fun as that would be, we're in public."

Everyone at the diner table turned to see the new arrival. Mia Toretto stood with her hands on her hips, staring down at them.

"Hey, Mia. Time to switch already?" Brian asked. It felt like the morning had flown by.

She nodded. "Yeah. Dom," she looked to her brother. "Thank you so much for the call saying you weren't coming home last night," she said sarcastically. "Also, Cesare wanted to talk to you when you got a chance. He said he'd be at the office until three."

Cesare Toretto. Mayor of Torettown and cousin to Mia and Dominic. He was a slight man with a strong voice and amazing charisma, or so Brian had read. He'd never met the man before but Dom had gone to see him a few times in the past several weeks. Cesare deferred to Dom on a lot of issues when running the city, so everyone tended to respect and obey Dom more than his cousin. Surprisingly, Cesare, at least publicly, seemed to prefer things that way.

"What's he want?" Dom asked.

Mia shrugged. "The usual. Policy. Procedure. Precedence," she said flippantly. "He seemed anxious though."

"He's always anxious." Dom sighed and tapped on Brian's side lightly but repeatedly until Brian slid out of the booth to let him out. He looked down at his sister with a withering look. "Sure know how to make a great day average, huh?"

She smiled up at him sweetly. "You know I strive for excellence. Now go."

Dom looked down at Brian, looking up at him with a content half-smile on his face. He let out a small huff of breath through his nose, muscles in his arms tensing briefly, before turning and leaving the diner. Brian watched him until he was out of the door before moving his attention to Mia.

"You're paying his bill, you know," he quipped.

She crossed her arms. "You were the big winner last night, Buster, why don't you pay for it? After winning three races, you definitely have the cash to spare."

"And I'm out," Tej said, throwing a few bills on the table to cover his meal. He pushed on Rome's arm to make him move out of the way.

"I'm with ya," Rome agreed, also throwing down money before standing and moving around Mia for the door. "Later, B," he called back to Brian as he and Tej disappeared outside.

Mia slid into the booth across from Brian and began picking at the food the boys had left behind – which mainly included their sides.

Brian watched her for a few moments before placing his arms on the table. "You seem agitated."

"Do I?" Mia asked. "My brother took Letty's turn at watching you last night and then didn't take part in the races and didn't come home and didn't call. I had no idea where he was. He didn't answer his phone when I called and no one knew where either of you were so I had to wait until it was my turn to watch you to find out if you were both dead in a ditch somewhere."

With a wince, Brian said, "Sorry."

Mia watched him for a few moments, chewing a fry slowly. Brian got the impression he was being scanned by a computer deciding if he was a safe program or a virus in need of deletion.

"I was wondering when Dom would make a move," she said at last. "But I guess you both sort of moved at the same time."

Brian felt his face heat up but he didn't do her the disservice of lying. It would be obvious to someone without her gifts, so there really was no point. Instead, he nodded silently.

She ate another fry and then drank from Brian's soda without asking. "You both seem really happy," she said with a vague smile before her expression fell flat. "But you're anxious. You're worried about something. Something that you know might make Dom hate you."

Damn. She was really reading him now, wasn't she? He refused to shift in his seat. He'd been in the mob, for goodness sake. He could handle this.

Mia sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose for a moment. "Listen, Brian. I know you care about my brother, okay? He cares about you too. But I've told you before that secrets don't stay secret in this family for long. So whatever it is you're hiding from him, from us, you need to come clean about it." She gave him an encouraging smile. "I can tell it's eating at you. It's been eating at you since that first family dinner, and it's only getting worse. So…tell me. Let me help you out."

The MCF badge was digging into him in his back pocket. It, combined with Mia's open expression and words, had Brian sighing and clasping his fingers together on the table. He shut his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to settle himself. He'd decided he was going to blow his cover. He'd decided. It was for the best.

"I'm a cop."

When he opened his eyes, he saw that Mia's open expression had turned to one of confusion. "What? I don't-"

"I became a cop when I was nineteen, right out of high school, back in my hometown of Barstow. I was a street cop for two years before the higher ups pulled me for undercover ops because my mutation made it easy for me to blend in with any crowd. Not that they knew it was a mutation's fault. I've been rented out to every department and county that needed an in through California, Arizona, and Nevada for the last five and half years, never staying in one place for more than a few months."

He kept his eyes on Mia's the entire time he spoke, his voice even and straightforward. Her eyebrows came together and her lips pulled down and it was obvious that she was trying to find a hint he was lying. She was straining to hear something or see something or sense something that would explain why he was saying these things other than it being the truth.

Reaching into his back pocket, Brian pulled out his badge and set it calmly on the table. "Braga keeps trying to kill me because right now, my mission is to capture him, and one of the other agents blew my cover with him."

Mia shook her head back and forth slowly, her eyes locked on the badge. Mutant Control Force. The government agency Torettown was founded to protect mutants against.

She stood up abruptly and headed for the door. Brian threw a wad of cash, probably way too much but he didn't care, on the table, grabbed his badge, and hurried after her. She had already turned down the side of the diner, away from the front doors.

"Mia."

"Go away."

"Mia," he tried again, just as they reached the front of her car.

Mia flipped around and slapped him, hard, across the face. It was enough to make him stumble to the side and hold his face. There were tears in her eyes and Brian felt his heart drop to his stomach.

"You bastard," she said lowly, obviously trying not to make too big a scene. Luckily there were no witnesses to them at the moment and no windows into the diner from here. "You know what they do to mutants outside of Torettown? Do you know what happens to mutants in prisons?"

"Yeah," Brian said. "Yeah I do."

She shook her head. "Then why? Why would you work for them? Why would you do that?" It was obvious she wanted to yell, to shout and rail at him, to hurt him, but she held back.

Brian frowned. "I'm using my power to help people. Joining the police was my way of _helping_ mutants, not hurting them," he told her. "Most of the guys I catch are regs. And the mutants? They're hardened criminals, Mia. They've done awful things. I would never send someone to prison unless it was for the same reasons Dom would."

Mia raised her hand again but stopped before slapping him, for which he was grateful. His chin ached. He'd probably bruise.

"You've been lying to us, this whole time," she said as she lowered her hand. "Did you know that cop who tried to shoot Dom?"

Brian gaped at her. "What? Mia, no!" He took her by the shoulders and it was obvious that she was fighting not to throw him off. "Mia. Mia, I would never do that. I swear. I would never do anything that could harm any one of you. Not even Vince," he tried for levity but it fell flat. "Use your power on me, Mia. Read me. Tell me if I'm lying, even a little bit. I'm on your side. You can trust me, Mia."

Her eyes searched his and a single tear fell from each eye, but no more. She nodded. "I know," she admitted in a near whisper. "You've got a clean heart, and you really care about my brother. If I couldn't trust anything else, I'd still trust that."

Releasing Mia, Brian let out a rush of breath. "I'm still not sure about that 'clean heart' thing, but thank you. Really. Cop or not, Mia, I'm still the same guy."

She let out a weak laugh. "You're a terrible liar," she said. "A cover story wouldn't have gotten past me."

He nodded. "Lie aside, I need you to do me a favor, Mia." He swallowed. "I need you to not tell Dom. Don't tell anyone, but especially not Dom."

Mia sighed. "You want to tell him yourself," she noted like he was being difficult but she understood. "Fine. I don't want to be there when the shit hits the fan anyway."

Brian grimaced. "You think it'll be that bad?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

The younger Toretto smirked. "He's gonna go ballistic. But you might live."

Leaning against Mia's car, Brian covered his face with his hands briefly. "So I should enjoy whatever it is we have while I can, huh?"

He'd made that decision last night as well. Brian would take what he could with Dom, covet it, horde it, because he knew this was all coming to an end and soon. Still, hearing it from Mia made it all the more real. Made it feel that much more evanescent and desperate and stupid.

Mia lifted an eyebrow at him. "You run with the MCF, Brian. You've had to do that since the beginning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview for Chapter 12**
> 
>  
> 
> Rome stepped out of the driver's seat, followed shortly by Tej from the passenger's seat and Monica from the back.
> 
> "Apparently I became a mother duck," Brian joked with a wave at his entourage.
> 
> "There's all kinds of family, Brian," Monica commented easily.
> 
> His eyes were on the bruise forming on Brian's cheek. It wasn't hugely large or dark, but it was still noticeable.
> 
> Brian lightly touched his cheek. "A minor disagreement between me and my ideals," he answered.
> 
> Was he going to break Dom's heart?
> 
> His frown didn't deepen so much as turn sad. "Listen, Dom. I need to tell you something."
> 
> "Hello, Officer," a Spanish accented voice whispered.
> 
> Brian had only taken two steps when something wrapped around his neck from behind and the world went fuzzy at the edges.


	12. Chapter 12

After an awkward but not hostile afternoon with Mia, Jesse came to relieve her. While Mia went to go help prepare some food for Tuesday family dinner night, Jesse followed Brian back to his apartment so he could change and get ready before they headed over to the Toretto house themselves.

"Mia seemed…tense," Jesse noted as they entered Brian's apartment. "Everything alright between you two?" His eyes were on the bruise forming on Brian's cheek. It wasn't hugely large or dark, but it was still noticeable.

Closing the door behind them, Brian said, "Yeah. Yeah it's good."

Mia had plugged him for information on his past cases and Brian had done his best to tell her what he could. She hadn't been happy when he told her he was legally not allowed to tell her this or that, but she'd accepted it. She'd also taken joy in making side comments about him and Dom, or about what happened to people who ticked Dom off. Brian was mostly sure Dom wouldn't beat him to death when he found out Brian was a cop, but the more Mia said the more he worried. It was actually a relief when Jesse showed up for his Watch Brian shift because it meant Mia stopped staring at him.

Hopefully they wouldn't get a repeat performance tonight or it'd be hard to explain what happened to cause it. Well, actually, they could say she'd found out about him and Dom and was watching him extra carefully to make sure he wasn't going to do something stupid like break her brother's heart.

Was he going to break Dom's heart?

Jesse, like Leon and Dom, plopped himself on the couch. It shouldn't be a surprise that they all did that. There wasn't exactly a lot of furniture in the studio apartment so it was the couch, the little dining table chair, or the bed. Given the choice in someone else's house, Brian would go for the couch as well.

"Sure she ain't gonna beat you up later?" Jesse asked as he lounged back. His shoes were on the cushions but Brian didn't make him move them.

"You think she's gonna fight me?" Brian asked in response. He filled a cup with water and downed it in a few big gulps, then refilled it and moved to set it on the coffee table for Jesse if he wanted it.

Jesse watched the ceiling. "Hm. I don't know. But to be honest, I kinda wanna see that fight."

Brian laughed. "Why's that?" He'd already fought Vince. Unless Mia was hiding some amazing fighting skills, Brian didn't think it was gonna be a fair match.

Now Jesse was focused on him. "Cause I wanna know who Dom'll side with," he said like it was obvious. Brian's good humor evaporated. "He's always on Mia's side usually, but, eh, I don't know, man. You're different." He gave the best shrug he could while lying down. "Dom's different with you."

Brian didn't have an answer for that. Though, if the fight happened because Mia was angry he was a cop and she told everyone that was why, then Dom would probably side with his sister. It wasn't that Brian was a cop, really. It was that Brian was currently working for the Mutant Control Force. That's what had Mia so upset, what would have them all upset soon.

Shaking his head, Brian headed for his dresser. Brian almost began peeling his shirt off, but remembered his badge peeking out of his back pocket just in time. Instead, he collected new clothing to wear – pants, underwear, shirt – and headed for the bathroom.

"Right. I'm gonna jump in the shower real quick," Brian said.

Jesse waved him away. "Just don't make your shower angry, bro."

Just about half an hour later, they were pulling up to the Toretto house. Jesse was already out of the car before Brian pulled the keys from the ignition. The youngest of the Toretto team and he was always on the move. They'd barely reached the Toretto front door when another car pulled up on the lawn. It wasn't Letty, Vince, Leon, Dom, or Mia, because their cars were already here.

It had to be Rome and Brian's theory was proven true a moment later. Rome stepped out of the driver's seat, followed shortly by Tej from the passenger's seat and, to Brian's shock, Monica from the back.

"Monica," Brian let out as they joined him and Jesse on the front steps. "What are you-"

"Well if my boyfriend is going to this dinner, then so am I," she said sweetly. She wasn't pleased with the cover story either, that's what her tone said to Brian, but she would use whatever it took to be closer to the investigation. "We've been too far apart for too long, Brian." And that was about her and him, not Rome.

Brian shut his eyes briefly. What was it with people today and making him feel guilty?

"Party's gettin' crowded," Jesse half sang, then whistled in appreciation and entered the house, leading the rest of them in. "We got company!"

From the kitchen came the sounds of plates and silverware being moved around, and Dom's voice talking to someone, tone easy and light. Letty and Vince were sitting in the living room watching TV, so it had to be either Mia or Leon – probably Mia, and Leon was hiding somewhere waiting to appear when it would make the most people jump.

"Since when are you all family?"

Tej, Rome, and Monica visibly jumped and flipped around to see Leon against the wall by the door. Brian smirked.

"Since apparently I became a mother duck," he joked with a wave at his entourage.

Leon shook his head but it was Vince who answered. "They're in trouble then. You couldn't take care of a car by yourself, let alone ducks."

Brian flicked him off with a saccharine smile and Vince repeated it back to him. It was probably the closest to friendship they'd ever get.

"I can tell tomorrow's gonna be fun," Letty quipped, pushing herself off the couch. "You and Vince alone for five hours?" She shook her head. "I should bring popcorn."

"Some help carrying plates would also be nice," Mia quipped as she carried cups from the kitchen.

Tej nodded and headed over, followed shortly by Rome and Letty.

Mia passed Brian on the way to the table and gave him a significant look, then moved her eyes to the kitchen. Tej and Rome were already in there grabbing plates and silverware, but Dom was also in there cooking. Brian's badge was still in his back pocket.

"What happened to your face?" Monica asked, drawing Brian from his thoughts.

Brian lightly touched his cheek. The bruise didn't hurt, which was lucky he supposed. "A minor disagreement between me and my ideals," he answered.

Mia laughed once, softly, as she finished putting a cup at each seat at the table. There wasn't enough room for ten people, so she went back into the kitchen to get more cups and place them around the coffee table as well. Her satisfied smile stayed with her as she went and it made Brian's lips lift as well.

Monica was still staring at him, not backing down. Brian sighed. "I'm fine. I promise. It's just a bruise."

"Could always heal it."

Both cops looked to Vince still on the couch. He looked angry, confused, and sad at the same time. When he saw they were looking, he continued.

"I know it makes you tired or whatever, but dammit, I messed you up," Vince cursed, hands clenching into fists. "You could've matched my strength so I never touched you, or Jesse's shields even. And with Dom's power you never would've had a mark." He narrowed his eyes but it wasn't in anger. "Why did you let me do it? I could've killed you."

At least he hadn't mentioned Brian healing himself from bullet wounds. Monica was glancing between them, interested.

Brian let out a quiet breath as he lowered his hand from his cheek. "You wouldn't have killed me, Vince."

"But I could've!" Vince retorted, standing from the couch, obviously aggravated. His hands were still clenched, his brow was low on his forehead, his posture was tense. In another situation, Brian might've thought they were about to fight.

"But you didn't," Brian replied easily. "A few bruises don't require instant healing." Even though bending at all had hurt like a motherfucker for the first several days.

"Brian."

Mia set the last of the cups on the coffee table between Brian and Vince, effectively stopping their conversation. She pat her hands together once when she was done and then put her hands on her hips.

"Dom could use some help in the kitchen," she said. It wasn't blindly obvious she was trying to make him go talk to Dom about being a cop, but the insinuation was there.

Nodding, Brian said, "Right. I'll be right there." And maybe he could sneak in one last kiss before he signed the death warrant for Brian Spilner.

He slipped into the kitchen as Tej slipped out. Dom was just pulling a glass baking pan out of the oven. In the pan was a loaf of meat covered in breadcrumbs and sitting in a red sauce. Dom put the pan down and reached over to turn off the oven.

Taking advantage of the otherwise empty kitchen, Brian wrapped his arms around Dom's waist and kissed his neck. Dom didn't even flinch. In fact, he turned his head so they could kiss properly for a few moments. Both men were smiling when they pulled back.

"Smells fantastic," Brian complimented. "What is it?"

"Polpettone," Dom said, which really meant nothing to Brian but he didn't care. Noticing Brian's lack of understanding, Dom continued, "Italian meatloaf."

Brian grimaced. "Mmm, lovely."

Dom playfully hit him in the face, not hard enough to do more than make Brian blink. "You just said it smelled good, so stop frowning. Judge it after you've ate it, Bri."

The nickname reminded Brian of why he was really in the kitchen. His frown didn't deepen so much as turn sad. "Listen, Dom. I need to tell you something."

Letty walked in just then and gave them an unimpressed stare. "Enough play, boys. We need more beer," she said, effectively breaking whatever mood had fallen around them and stopping Brian's confession. She motioned to the other room. "There ain't enough Corona in this house for us all. And Elena might drop by later, too. Go on a drink run instead."

"But-," Brian tried.

"Beer run. Now," Letty interrupted easily. "The faster you get back, the faster we eat, and I'm starving, so get moving."

Brian frowned. So much for coming clean with Dom right now.

"Take Jesse with you," Dom spoke up. "It's still his turn to watch your back."

Resting his forehead against Dom's shoulder briefly, Brian said, "Okay, mother," into Dom's skin, and then pulled away entirely. Dom graced him with an almost smug grin. Giving a squeeze to Dom's shoulder, Brian turned and headed for the door.

Brian resisted the urge to sigh. It felt like his badge was burning a hole in his pocket. Dom was so close, but the opportunity to reveal himself just slipped away. He'd had plenty of opportunities to tell Dom since last night but he'd held off each time. If he wasn't careful, Brian wouldn't get a chance to tell Dom. Dom would find out from someone else or when they caught Braga, and that would be so much worse than telling the truth now.

He just couldn't get his mouth to open whenever he tried.

In the living room, Brian pat Jesse on the shoulder to grab his attention. "Come on. With so many unexpected guests, Letty says there's not enough beer, so we gotta go grab some more."

"Alright," Jesse agreed, immediately dropping everything in his hands and heading for the door.

"I'll go with you," Monica offered suddenly. "Since I'm one of the unexpected guests."

Knowing there was no way to persuade her to stay, Brian let her follow them out to the car.

…

…

Jesse whistled the whole way to the store, sounding uncomfortable being in the car with Brian and Monica even though Monica was in the back seat and Brian was driving.

"Jesse," Monica said just before they arrived at the store. The whistling ended abruptly as he turned in his seat to face her. "Can you not whistle anymore? Please?"

"Oh. Sorry, dude. I mean, ma'am. I mean, er-," he stuttered.

Monica placed a hand on his arm that made him stop babbling. "Monica is fine," she told him.

Jesse slid out of the car as soon as Brian had it in park. "This is weird though," Jesse said. "Being that you two know each other and I don't know you, and I don't know what kind of history there is between you, like if you dated or had a one-night stand or got drunk or overdosed or-"

"Wow, I wonder what that feels like," Brian interrupted smoothly as they entered the store. "One new guy joining up with a group of old friends. Must be tough."

That earned him a grin from Monica and a sheepish look from Jesse.

"Sorry, bro," Jesse said with a tap on Brian's shoulder. "I'm nervous."

Brian rolled his shoulders. "S'okay. Now, where is the beer?" he asked no one in particular, already heading to where he knew the beer was stocked from previous grocery trips he'd made.

Of course, Jesse didn't let the conversation drop. It only took until they reached the beer aisle for him to keep talking.

"I feel like I stepped into some sort of TV drama, is all," he noted. "I can't imagine what you in the middle of all our business all of a sudden was like." He shuddered. "Crazy."

They grabbed several cases of Coronas and headed for the check out.

With a shrug and a smile, Brian said, "It was actually pretty nice. You're like a family, without the blood relations."

"There's all kinds of family, Brian," Monica commented easily. "You had Roman when you were little, I had my mother and father and siblings and cousins. They had each other," she said with a nod toward Jesse walking just a step ahead of them. "It's easy to feel comfortable with family. To forget what worries you, what frightens you, even your responsibilities." She locked eyes with Brian as they reached a self checkout line and Jesse began ringing them up. "It's when you have no family that you remember, and that can be scary, but you keep moving."

She was once again warning him against playing house, it seemed. Brian understood her concerns, he really and honestly did, but he'd made a choice. He wasn't forgetting the mission. He wasn't going to give up on Braga. He wasn't going to quit being a cop.

At the same time, Brian wasn't going to give up a moment with the people of Torettown. He'd play in charity games and make deliveries and cook for the neighborhood and fix broken cars and, now, find ample time to put his hands and mouth on every inch of Dom's taught muscles and smooth skin.

Brian had gone all in on missions before and no one much cared. The more he embraced his role, the better the operation went. It was only when he found a role he wanted to keep that the people around him started to nag, and it was by far the least illegal role he'd ever played.

"Moni', my cherri," Jesse said in appreciation, cash in hand but not feeding it to the machine. "That was deep."

Monica smiled at him. "Thank you, Jesse."

As they were getting back in the car, Brian was hit with a sudden realization. Monica and Jesse were now talking freely with each other and so didn't notice Brian's lapse in attention.

Monica was right. Rome had been his family growing up. Even eight years later, without any contact, they were still close. When this job ended, Brian would not only lose Dom, he'd lose Rome too. Outside of Torettown, Rome was still a criminal, a mutant who stole cars when he was young and stupid. And even if he could leave, Brian would be undercover again within two weeks in god knew what county or state and with what identity. He couldn't take anything from Torettown with him, not even Rome.

Shit.

…

…

Brian was honestly surprised that no one came rushing out to greet them when they got back. Dinner was most definitely done by now and they probably wanted to get started as soon as possible. They had likely started some movie to pass the time and didn't hear the car pull up.

"Alright. Food food food food food," Jesse chanted quietly, a spring in his step, as they stepped quickly up the walk toward the door.

Monica gave a slight giggle and looked at Brian out of the side of her eye. "I see why you like them." Brian smiled at her.

Suddenly Monica gasped and fell backward, almost as if someone had shoved her but with no one there. Her head smacked into the concrete with a muted thud. Jesse stopped chanting at the same time Brian stopped walking. Even as Brian was still turning to look at her, Jesse was already moving behind him to get to where she was groaning on the walkway. As if moved on invisible strings, Jesse flipped around, away from Monica. He yelped and dropped his case of beer to grab his junk and fell to the ground at Brian's feet.

"What?" Brian looked around but didn't see an attacker, even though someone had to have just taken them out.

A dark skinned teen with disinterested eyes materialized to the right of the house, almost in the driveway, and Brian glared.

"Hey," he called. "Who are you?"

Brian had only taken two steps away from Monica and Jesse, toward the new arrival, when something wrapped around his neck from behind and the world went fuzzy at the edges. He barely heard the case of beer hit the grass.

"Hello, Officer," a Spanish accented voice whispered in his ear.

Braga. Shit. Brian struggled to move his arms or feet or say something, but his body wouldn't respond. In fact, as the seconds ticked by, he even stopped wanting to fight the hold Braga had on him.

"Do me a favor," Braga continued, voice calm and yet with an undercurrent of anger. Something slid into Brian's hand, his fingers automatically wrapping around the familiar weight of a loaded gun. "Take this gun and blow your brains out, you interfering piece of shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 13**
> 
>  
> 
> Monica said, "Brian," in a breathy voice. No more playing house. Goodbye Brian Spilner.
> 
> "They'll put me away," Brian said evenly.
> 
> "Not if you aren't here to take," Monica retorted.
> 
> The fact of the matter was that everything Brian did, everyone he mimicked, became part of him. Little pieces of his past deeds clung on. Darkness, Mia had called it. Desperation and the dark underside of a city. Evil.
> 
> Brian O'Conner was a mutant.
> 
> He pulled the trigger.
> 
> Mia had her hands on Dom's left arm, keeping her glistening eyes firmly on her brother. The unofficial leader of Torettown looked like he'd been the one shot multiple times.
> 
> The look Braga shot Dom was venomous for a moment but quickly faded to nonchalance. "If they can catch me, they can have me," he said. "But I will kill anyone else who gets in my way, and then be gone before they arrive."
> 
> "I believe Brian Spilner was much closer to Brian O'Conner than you think."


	13. Chapter 13

"Do me a favor," Braga said, voice calm and yet with an undercurrent of anger. Something slid into Brian's hand, his fingers automatically wrapping around the familiar weight of a loaded gun. "Take this gun and blow your brains out, you interfering piece of shit."

The weight at his neck left but the fog didn't. Brian looked down at the gun in his hands. A Glock 19. A cop's weapon, especially good for undercover or off duty officers. 9mm rounds. Easily concealed. Extremely low rate of shot failure. It'd do the job nicely.

Brian lifted his eyes and saw the teen was still standing there, looking at him with the same disinterested stare that Brian felt on his own face. Staring at him, but not really seeing him, Brian lifted the Glock to his head. He pulled the trigger.

A sheen of green blanketed his vision, an overly loud bang made Brian's ears ring, and sudden, stinging, burning pain made him drop the gun in the same moment it was recoiling in his grip. But he wasn't dead.

The fog left his mind and Brian's heart rate shot up. He shook his hand and looked down at it. Black marks from gunpowder marred the skin and the space between his index finger and thumb was red, but otherwise unharmed.

Did the gun backfire? No. No, there'd been green. Jesse's shields. The gun misfired because the bullet couldn't leave the barrel.

Where was Braga?

Brian flipped around to see Jesse still on the ground holding his crotch but also with his right hand up in the air. When he saw Brian look at him, he gave a pained smile and dropped his arm. Monica was pushing herself up, one hand on her head. And Braga was picking the Glock up from where it fell on the ground. He checked the clip and the barrel and seemed to deem it functional because he held it out to Brian once more.

"Again," he said. He whistled and eight more guys came into view, all holding guns of one sort or another. One of them was Fenix Calderon, the only one with clear eyes. "And if the whelp blocks it again, shoot him," Braga said to the new arrivals.

Jesse glanced between the guns now aimed at him, then at Brian. One guy with a gun could kill Jesse. Eight was overkill but Braga was clearly livid. Brian shook his head.

"No."

Braga's eyes widened and he pulled the gun closer to him. Brian reached forward and grabbed it before it could be aimed directly at him. Even so, Braga pulled the trigger. The bang from the second shot was still loud, but it didn't make Brian's ears ring as much as one fired directly next to his ear. The bullet never touched him and Brian quickly disarmed Braga.

The front door to the house flung open and the rest of the team spilled out, no doubt to investigate the gunshots. The distraction was just long enough for someone to catch Brian in the stomach and rip the gun from his hands. It was the teen from before, now backing up to join the eight others in a semi circle boxing in the Toretto house.

"Braga!" Dom shouted. "Make them drop their weapons!"

Braga barely spared time to scoff at Dom before he was looking at Brian again, confusion in his eyes. "I don't understand. How could a reg cop like you break free from my control so easily?"

Because nearly shooting himself in the head was easy.

"Because he's not a reg cop," Monica practically growled, back on her feet behind Braga and with a gun of her own pointed right at him. There was a small trail of blood on the side of her face and her pupils were dilating. "I am. Arturo Braga, you're under arrest for drug smuggling, psychogenic manipulation, kidnapping, and attempted murder of an MCF agent."

Leon cursed and Mia's eyes shot to Brian. Vince took a step forward, muscles tense and ready for a fight, but Dom threw a hand out to stop him. Tej did the same for Rome, who looked ready to move toward Brian rather than Monica or Braga. None of them had weapons beyond their mutations – healing, insight, technopath, blending, super strength, bullshitting, electricity. Only Letty had a skill that was useful at long distance, and it looked like she didn't know who to attack first, though her fingers crackled with power.

Braga gave a little grin and lifted his hands as if in surrender. Without turning around, he narrowed his eyes at Brian and said, "Kill her."

Smoker, ADHD, car parts, architecture, violent childhood, sleeps with a teddy bear, shields, SHIELDS!

Jesse and Brian raised their hands at the same time and green shields encompassed not only Monica but Dom and the others as well. Bullets rained down on them but not one got through. No one was hurt.

Over the sounds of the guns, Fenix shouted "Stop! Stop!" and abruptly the attack ended. "Wasting bullets," he sneered.

Braga turned around, dropping his arms, and frowned. "Well this is a disappointing turn of events," he grumbled.

Dom took a step away from the rest of the group, closer to the action. "Braga, you better come quietly, if you know what's good for you. TPD is already on their way." Brian wondered who called them, though it was probably Letty, since Elena's number was likely the first one in her phone and easily dialed.

The look Braga shot Dom was venomous for a moment but quickly faded to nonchalance. "If they can catch me, they can have me," he said. "But the one with the power here is me. So I will kill these two pendejos, and anyone else who gets in my way, and then be gone before they arrive."

"Like hell you will," Vince spat from behind Dom. From the look on Dom's face, he whole-heartedly agreed.

Jesse and Brian locked eyes. Brian's asked a question, Jesse's gave the answer, as did his small nod. In the next instant, Brian stopped mimicking the shields, Braga and the others took notice of the change, Jesse extended his shield to cover the area Brian's had left, and Brian tackled Braga to the grass.

Making sure to keep from touching Braga's skin, Brian grabbed his sleeved arm and twisted it up behind his back until Braga cried out in pain. Green shielding protected Brian when Fenix tried to shoot him and Brian paid it no mind. Dom looked like he wanted to attack Fenix, but he stayed behind the shielding.

"Brian," Monica said.

He heard metal clink and lifted his hand to catch the handcuffs she'd thrown him, quickly handcuffing both of Braga's hands behind his back.

"Arturo Braga, you're under arrest for drug smuggling and a bunch of other stuff," Brian said.

"You goddamn mutant traitor sonofa-"

Brian kept talking over his captive's cursing. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do, and any use of mutant powers, can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right-"

The shields suddenly dropped and Brian stopped talking, eyes snapping to Jesse. The younger male had stopped holding his privates but was now clutching his side, where blood was leaking from between his fingers. Brian cursed under his breath. Jesse hadn't shielded himself!

Monica turned her gun on the nine men that now had clear shots at them. Fenix got two rounds loose before Monica caught him in the head with her own. She grunted and fell back to the ground, one penetration in her shoulder, the other near her hip, and dropped her gun. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Shoot them!" Braga shouted at the men under his control.

Before they could follow the order, lightning arched through the air and hit each of the eight remaining men square in the chest. They jolted and jerked for several seconds, until Letty pulled her power back in, then began falling to their knees or sides or backs on the street, sidewalk, and yard. One of them fought to get back up and Vince ran over, kicking them in the head and knocking them out. The rest of the team followed Vince out now that the weapons were gone, detaining the men so that, controlled or not, they couldn't do any more damage, even Mia.

Monica said, "Brian," in a breathy voice, and Brian snapped to. No more playing house. Goodbye Brian Spilner.

Keeping his knee in the center of Braga's back, making the older man groan in pain, and his hand bunched in the fabric of Braga's shirt to hold his head down, Brian fished his phone from his pocket. He dialed the MCF.

"Hello, Mutant Contr-"

"This is Officer Brian O'Conner, undercover MCF calling for a med evac for Officer Monica Fuentes. Multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, concussion, and going into shock," he rattled off quickly.

There was barely a moment's pause before, "Evac team is on its way. They should arrive in about four minutes."

Top of their game tonight, Brian thought. He hung up without saying goodbye and speed dialed Tanner.

Braga struggled underneath him and Brian pressed down harder with his knee, making the man yell and start cursing in Spanish. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Brian looked up at the others.

Vince had fire in his eyes as he struggled to get to Brian. Tej and Rome were holding him back, both quietly yelling at him to calm down or back off, though he wasn't listening. Letty was standing guard over the eight guys they'd thrown into a haphazard pile. Leon was with Jesse, one hand helping put pressure on the gunshot wound and the other holding a phone to his ear as he no doubt called the Torettown paramedics, or better yet Suki, to come help Jesse. Lord knew the MCF wouldn't help him.

Mia had her hands on Dom's left arm, keeping her glistening eyes firmly on her brother. And then there was Dom. It was more difficult than Brian had thought it'd be to look Dom in the eyes. The unofficial leader of Torettown looked like he'd been the one shot multiple times, and he didn't know if he should be angry about it. The prominent emotion on his face was betrayal, flickering through various degrees of it, like he couldn't believe what he was witnessing. If Mia wasn't touching him, would Dom come beat him up? Brian would let him.

Luckily, Brian didn't have time to reflect on the emotions rampaging in his own chest at the moment. The adrenaline was wearing off and the bone deep exhaustion from mimicking Jesse's shields, even for only a few moments, was creeping in.

Then the phone connected and Brian spoke before Tanner could. "Sir, I believe you ordered a plate of drug trafficking with a side of attempted murder, and it's ready for pick up." He shut his eyes, beginning to feel like he was falling asleep. "Come get us out of here."

…

…

The door in front of him was a burnt red color while the walls around it were a yellow sort of off-white. The L.A. sunshine made the walls brighter than usual, to the point they were almost painful to look at. Brian knocked on the door and then stood a step back so that anyone looking through the peephole could clearly see him.

It only took a few moments for the lock to click and the door to swing open, revealing Monica Fuentes in all her glory. Her hair was vaguely messy, since she hadn't been expecting visitors, but otherwise she looked the same as always. Well, except for the sling holding her arm still. Brian knew there were bandages under her clothes for both bullet wounds, but if he hadn't seen her in the hospital, he never would've guessed.

"Brian," Monica greeted pleasantly. She motioned him inside. "I didn't expect any house calls."

Brian shrugged. "Yeah. I figured it was only right. Besides, I thought you'd be bored by now and I brought cookies."

"Alfajores?" she asked, eyeing the bag in Brian's hands with interest.

He smirked. "Of course."

She took the bag from him and moved to sit on the couch. "You know my favorite sweet. I'm not surprised," she commented. Monica groaned when she actually had to bend and sit on the couch. "I wouldn't mind some of your friend Suki's help right now, though I wouldn't turn away your copying ability either."

Brian frowned and sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Monica. He rested his elbows on his knees and looked at where his hands touched instead of at his ex-partner.

"How did you figure it out?" he asked solemnly.

Braga had been shouting and cursing about Brian's mutant power (shielding, he thought) all over the MCF since his capture. The only reasons why Brian wasn't in questioning himself right now were because the reports said Jesse had the shields and that Braga was a mutant criminal who altered the minds of those around him, so the brass wasn't inclined to believe anything that came out of his mouth. But Monica had been there. She'd seen how he and Jesse worked together. She'd heard what Vince said. Yet she never flinched, never reacted, never said anything, so she must have already known.

"I read your file, Brian," Monica told him.

That had Brian lifting his eyes to her. She looked affronted that he would think her that dim. "What? My file?"

She nodded once. "Everyone who works undercover gets a file on those they're working with. You got mine and I got yours." True. Brian also nodded. "I read about your past cases, all the way back to when you joined the force in Barstow as a teenager. To be honest, I'm surprised no one else has put it together yet."

"It's that obvious?" Brian asked.

Monica opened the bag and pulled out a white dusted alfajor cookie. "No, I suppose not. But with Braga spouting off at the mouth, it won't be long before someone looks closer and sees what I saw."

Brian cursed under his breath and clenched his hands together. An alfajor was placed on top of his hands where his thumbs and forefingers could act as a stand, making him blink in confusion.

"I think Tanner already knew," Monica said, grabbing another cookie from the bag without commenting on the one she'd given Brian. "There's no way you would have gotten such a perfect cover story if he didn't, but I don't have any real proof."

"Do you think he'll help me?" Brian asked, shifting his hands to hold the cookie properly and shaking the powdered sugar off himself.

Monica shrugged. "As best he can. But if there's even a whisper that you're a mutant, then leaving the MCF is going to be difficult at best." She locked eyes with Brian. "I'll help too, but Brian…we both know what's likely to happen."

Brian nodded in an almost defeated way. Yeah, he knew.

It wasn't likely that the Mutant Control Force would let a mutant continue to be a police officer. In fact, they would probably arrest him for lying to federal agents or putting agents at risk or whatever bullshit they could come up with. The MCF was notoriously against mutants. If regular cops were hard on mutant suspects and criminals, then the MCF was downright violent. They would stop at nothing to get their guy, or girl, and had the power to make someone a wanted criminal throughout the Americas within days. Even if Brian ran, they'd find him.

The only safe place on the west coast was Torettown.

"They'll put me away," Brian said evenly.

"Not if you aren't here to take," Monica retorted. "That's the choice you have to make, Brian. If they believe Braga, if they realize the truth, and they decide to bring you in, you're going to have to choose. Stay and spend the rest of your life in prison or run and find someplace safe where you can live a proper life."

Again, Brian knew what she meant. Afterall, he'd done the same thing for Rome. Torettown wouldn't prosecute him. In fact, the Torettown Police Department might actually accept him as one of their own. It was the safest place for a mutant. But if the MCF really wanted him, if they thought he was worth the effort, they would fight Torettown to get him.

"None of them have tried to contact me," spilled from his lips before Brian had even realized he was thinking it. "It might be better to face abuse at the hands of strangers than old friends."

Monica smacked him on the back of the head hard enough to shock Brian into dropping his cookie.

"Don't compare prison to loneliness," she chastised him, making him feel like a kid in the face of an angry mother. "It's only been two days and they just realized you'd been lying to them. If they were ever your friends, you need to give them more credit."

Brian ran his hands through his hair and held on tight. "That's just it, Monica. I don't know if they were."

"I don't understand."

Instead of looking at Monica, Brian cast his gaze around the sparsely but tastefully decorated living room, full of light colors and furniture. His eyes came to rest on the blank TV screen across from them.

"I'm a mimic," he stated. "Everything about me is just a mix up of everyone I've been around. Things I like, things I do, things I say, it's all affected by who's around me at the time. One of the guys on my first mission, a pimp, was real big into conserving national parks, so I was too. I've picked up a smoking habit three times, and nearly became an alcoholic twice. I've been friends with my marks before. We got along great, had the same skills, enjoyed the same things. But it's always just been my power that caused that."

The memory of Dom's hands in his hair, giving a reassuring tug, gripping tight while Brian drove him to the brink, shot through him and he let his hands drop into his lap instead.

"If I go back to Torettown…If I go back as Brian O'Conner and I don't let myself mimic, what if we aren't friends?" He shook his head. "What if I can't figure out who I am without mimicking them?"

There was silence in the room for several long moments. Brian didn't remove his eyes from the TV. Dom and Brian had talked about Brian's ability once, how what he'd done in the past affected him now. Because Brian had to practice a skill to keep it, what he'd mimicked a year ago wasn't a huge factor in what he did now. But the fact of the matter was that everything Brian did, everyone he mimicked, became part of him. Little pieces of his past deeds clung on. Darkness, Mia had called it. Desperation and the dark underside of a city. Evil.

And that was just the stuff he'd done years ago. Brian had been with the Toretto group only two days ago. He could still feel Jesse's ADHD, Vince's anger and guilt, taste Mia's tuna, Dom's skin. How much of him had been what the others had felt, thought, and done?

How much of his relationship with Dom had been simply because Dom wanted it and Brian copied him? Brian didn't regret any of it, not one second, but that didn't prove that it wasn't the effect of a mimic. No matter how hard he tried, Brian couldn't stop worrying about it either.

"When I was living with my cousins, during this mission," Monica began, breaking into Brian's thoughts. "We went skating a lot with her daughter. I'm not a good skater, but I never turned down a trip because I always had fun, because my niece was having fun." She waited until Brian looked at her to continue. "When I was in high school, all the girls were into these strange keychains you made out of strips of plastic rope weaved together. I hated making things but I had twenty of those half finished in my bag at any given moment. I went horseback riding once a month with my friend Carmella, and spent Spring Break in Miami with my sorority sisters. Today, I don't like horses and I hate Spring Breakers, but back then, with my friends, I was different."

"What's your point?" Brian asked quietly.

She frowned. "My point, Brian, is that everyone acts differently based on who they're around. Gang bangers act tough around their buddies but break down in interrogation rooms. Convicts act big in jail but cry in therapy or in front of a judge. My cousin pretends she likes her mother-in-law's cooking and her father-in-law's presence because that's what she does, but she and her husband agree that his father is a terrible person and his mother is a terrible cook when they're at home. It's not only your power that makes you act differently. It's because you're human and you can adapt."

"Your gift makes it easy for you to pretend to be someone else, or to fit in with whatever group you wish. You could be a star NBA player or concert pianist, a politician or a scuba diver, but you're not. And you're not because you choose not to be. You gift is like speed learning, but what you choose to remember is what makes you you, just like what I choose to take from my past makes me me." She shook her head once. "There was more of you in this mission than you want to admit. I believe Brian Spilner was much closer to Brian O'Conner than you think."

Feeling a tiny thread of hope, though for what, Brian didn't know, he asked, "And why's that?"

Giving Brian a knowing look, Monica said, "Because you wouldn't be so torn if he was a lie." She took a bite of her cookie.

…

…

Once again, Brian was in a lull.

There was an unoccupied desk in the corner of the bullpen that he'd been assigned for the purpose of filling out the paperwork associated with the Braga case. He was meant to give a detailed account of what happened throughout the case, especially the final encounter with Braga. Brian left out his relationship with Dom and Letty's with Elena, and kept it as dry and by the book as possible. He'd weaved his words around to hide the use of his powers throughout it as well.

He'd turned that report in three days ago and was still sitting at the empty desk each morning. For something to do, Brian had tried running errands for other agents, but Braga's accusations had made their rounds before he ever entered the office.

Brian O'Conner was a mutant.

Nothing overt had happened yet since there was no proof. If an agent attacked another agent, they could be let go or, depending on the severity of the wounds, assigned jail time. No one wanted that. But Brian was a potential threat now, so no one was willing to be friendly with him either. They didn't wave hello to him or acknowledge him. Someone brought food for the office the day before and pointedly avoided giving any to him. Brian was fine with that because it meant he got to leave the office for awhile and get lunch in L.A., where no one knew who he was.

He wondered, eating a sandwich from a local café, how long until the higher ups made a decision regarding him. How long until they decided there was enough evidence to prosecute him? How long before they started asking him questions he wouldn't be able to lie his way out of?

At least Brian hadn't made any friends in the office, so it wasn't like he was getting shunned by people who he'd thought he could trust. Monica had returned to work that morning, arm still wrapped up but moving alright and looking healthy. Tanner had briefed him and taken a statement the first day but had otherwise been occupied with the multiple cases he was running at the moment and hadn't had time to visit or talk.

Brian rode the elevator back up to the MCF HQ in LA, prepared to spend the rest of the day doing what he'd been doing for the past three days: playing solitaire and drawing race cars. He'd tried drawing Dom but it seemed his skill was limited to cars, not people. None of the other agents had any real portrait artist skill for him to draw on either.

Jesse was sitting in the lobby when the elevator doors opened. His shoulders were drawn in and his hands were fiddling with anything in his reach. He kept his eyes on the tile floor. It was obvious he was uncomfortable being here. His eyes trailed over at the sound of someone's arrival and then widened.

"Brian!" Jesse gasped, standing up. His bullet wound didn't cause him any pain so Suki or someone must've healed him. The receptionist, Hannah, shot Jesse a dirty look that had his shoulders hunching again. "It's good to see you."

Frowning at Hannah, Brian stepped over to Jesse. He kept an arm's length between them in case Jesse didn't want an MCF officer near him. "Leon?" he asked, keeping his eyes on Jesse.

Peeking up, Jesse's eyes darted to the right and then back to Brian. So Leon was somewhere near the corner but no one in the office knew it. Brian hadn't imagined that Jesse would come to some place like this on his own. He thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye but when he checked for Leon, he didn't see anyone, so he turned back to Jesse.

"Why are you here, Jess?" Brian asked. "Are you in trouble?"

Jesse shook his head. "Nah, man. Dom needed protection, and you know how I am."

Brian's heart stuttered in his chest and he turned to look at the slivers of the bullpen he could see from here. "Dom's here? Why?"

"Duh," Jesse let out, but when Brian looked at him curiously he just tapped his head. "He's mad about how things went down, so he's here to make some changes to policy."

Before Brian could respond, a man in a dark suit sauntered in, heading for Hannah. It was Paulson, with his short cropped brown hair and overly broad shoulders. The man literally screamed 'asshole.' Upon seeing Brian, he stopped.

"Oh, O'Conner. You're back," he half sneered. "Tanner and Bilkins want you up in Tanner's office pronto." His eyes slid to Jesse. "You can stay there." Brian took a step toward Paulson and Paulson quickly turned on his heel and sauntered away again.

One day. One day, someone was gonna beat the crap out of Paulson. Brian just hoped he got to see it.

Brian gave a short wave to Jesse. "See you, I guess."

Jesse's hand landed on Brian's shoulder, actually making him jump. "Good luck, bro."

The words were sincere. The touch was casual. It seemed Jesse wasn't angry at him after all. Brian supposed he should've known better. Jesse was an open sort of person and a good kid. If any of the team was going to forgive that he'd lied, it would be Jesse.

"Thanks," Brian said before heading further into the office and up the stairs to the private offices.

There weren't that many people in the halls, but those that had to pass him made sure to give him a bit of a wide berth. Brian set his jaw and did his best to ignore them. His firm resolve lasted until he was outside of Tanner's office.

The walls of the offices were made of glass so that anyone walking by could see in. It kept people honest, they said. Tanner's office was in the middle of the hall and Brian couldn't take the last few steps to get inside. The door was already open, letting a few quiet sounds of conversation slip out, but Brian couldn't understand what they were saying because he couldn't get past what he was seeing.

Dominic Toretto was sitting in Tanner's office in a suit and tie, and as Brian got closer, the bald man turned his head and looked right at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Preview of Chapter 14**
> 
>  
> 
> "You're all really okay with this?" he asked.
> 
> "Torettown was always out of your jurisdiction," Dom said.
> 
> That one name, spilling from Dom's lips so easily, felt like a liberation.
> 
> "A mutant," Bilkins said with a scowl. "A mutant on our payroll."
> 
> Dom shrugged. "I wasn't gonna apologize for it either."
> 
> Brian could feel the heavy air from all that Dom wanted to say, to ask, to do, from himself as well.
> 
> Tanner's lips were raised just the slightest bit and he lifted his eyebrows as if to say 'Yes, Brian, you've got it.'


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would have been posted yesterday but for the random downtime on all three sites I post to At The Same Time. What.
> 
> Anyway, a great many thanks to all those who have supported this fic. I truly appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for the comments, kudos, and bookmarks. Enjoy the final chapter!

Striding forward under Dom's gaze, Brian knocked on the door frame as he leaned into the office. Tanner and Bilkins turned to look at him, as did the chief of the Torettown police.

"You wanted to see me, sirs?" Brian asked, needlessly.

Tanner waved him in. "Brian, yes. You know Mr. Toretto, Chief Penning," he said with separate waves to each man as he introduced them.

Brian nodded. "Yeah." He stepped forward to shake Chief Penning's hand. "Good to meet you again, sir."

Penning didn't look overly pleased but shook his hand anyway. "Wish you had told me who you were when we met last time, son."

"Sorry," Brian apologized, eyes flicking to where Dom still sat, silent, watching him. "I couldn't."

"See that's where you're wrong," Penning said, pulling Brian's attention back. "Torettown PD was on the lookout for Campos," he cleared his throat, "excuse me, Braga, for months. He'd been slipping in and out, causing problems for the people of our city. The protection of the people in Torettown is the duty of every TPD officer. Yet the MCF did not consider working with us to be beneficial to your mission when it would've made it much easier. Shared intel. The ability to stake out a possible locale. Extra eyes on the street. Protection from any backlash of the criminal sort." He lifted an eyebrow. "I hear you nearly died twice, maybe even three times. That's a risk you didn't have to face, Officer."

No one had said anything while Penning ranted. Tanner watched them in mild interest, Dom watched Brian, and Bilkins looked out the window at the city below. Something was going on here that Brian didn't know about.

Brian narrowed his eyes at Penning. "What's the point of this? Sir," he added a beat too slow and a bit too sarcastic to be considered proper. In the corner of his eye, Brian saw Dom's lips twitch upward.

"Cesare Toretto was unhappy with how the MCF intervened in Torettown," Tanner said.

Without turning from the window, Bilkins continued, "Seems he went to the federal government, all the way up to the president herself, to orchestrate a change in policy." Now he faced the other occupants in the room, but his focus was on Brian. "She agreed that the MCF is abusing its power. If the MCF wants to do anything regarding mutants in a mutant controlled city, they now have to have a liaison in that city."

So this wouldn't only effect Torettown, but the half dozen other mutant-friendly or mutant run cities across the country. That made sense. The president wouldn't play favorites with Torettown, so Cesare would have needed to come up with a plan for all mutant cities. As a Toretto, a family dedicated to helping other mutants, it probably never crossed his mind to leave them out.

"Liaison?" Brian repeated.

"In our case, here in California, someone who facilitates the exchange of information and plans between the TPD and outside police forces like the MCF and LAPD," Tanner explained calmly. Unlike Bilkins, who was bristling like a startled cat, Tanner seemed to be taking the change in policy like a fish to water. "Someone who either lives in Torettown or spends a lot of time there, knows the people, knows their system, has contacts and connections, and can fit in among the people there."

"A mutant," Bilkins simplified with a scowl. "A mutant on our payroll that helps catch out of control mutants in areas now out of our jurisdiction."

"Torettown was always out of your jurisdiction," Dom said. It was a simple statement of fact, but there was an acidic nature to his tone that belayed his anger at how the MCF had just come on in and invaded his city.

Brian was having a little trouble concentrating. A mutant liaison between the MCF and the TPD. Someone who lived in Torettown or near it. Someone with contacts and connections, who can fit in, who knows the people. As far as Brian knew, he and Monica were the only two MCF officers to have spent any good length of time in Torettown, and of the two of them he was the only mutant.

He met Tanner's gaze while Dom and Bilkins were having a stare off. Tanner's lips were raised just the slightest bit and he lifted his eyebrows as if to say 'Yes, Brian, you've got it.'

"You want me?" Brian asked aloud, flipping his eyes from one man in the room to the next for confirmation.

"You're the best option," Penning answered. "Been living in Torettown for weeks already now, haven't you? People know you. People trust you."

Bilkins frowned at Penning but he spoke to Brian. "We had hoped to put in one of our own, but since the MCF until this point has never employed mutants, our options were limited." Now he looked at Brian. "Not only is your sneaking ass the only option we have, but you were specially requested by Cesare Toretto himself."

Yeah, Bilkins was still ticked that he'd unknowingly hired a mutant. But at least he was being mildly cordial. And wait, Cesare Toretto had asked for him? Brian turned to Dom, who shifted when he realized he had everyone's attention.

"The position would be like a lifetime undercover op," Dom said, "but without the fake background. You could join the TPD directly, or continue working at Harry's or wherever you could find work, as long as you were available to coordinate between the TPD and outside forces when necessary. You would also need to have regular contact with politicians and other city representatives, to check in or give status updates. You would get a fair salary, about the same he makes," he nodded toward Bilkins, which made Bilkins tense, "for your troubles. Think you can handle all that, O'Conner?"

Hearing his name come out of Dom's mouth did things to Brian. He absently wondered if he'd shivered as much outwardly as he did inwardly. Brian Spilner was gone now, and Timothy Rowan, and Jared Martinez, and every other false name he'd ever had. He could be Brian O'Conner again. That one name, spilling from Dom's lips so easily, felt like a liberation.

"Yeah," he agreed in a sure voice. "I'm in."

Dom and Penning stood up then, and Dom held out his hand. When Brian took it and they shook to seal the deal, Dom smirked. "You're the first liaison between mutant towns and the regular world. Don't screw it up, Buster."

Brian smiled at the teasing tone to Dom's voice. "I'll do my best."

…

…

There was a lot of paperwork to fill out and handshakes from everyone present and words of advice from Tanner and Penning. Within an hour, however, Brian had gone from fearing he would be slapped in handcuffs at any moment to being given a free pass to live among mutants and use his mutation in a legal, federal position. He almost wished Dom would punch him just to prove it wasn't a dream.

Since the desk he'd been using wasn't his own, Brian just had to grab the sketches he'd made and his keys and he was ready to leave. Dom and Jesse were standing in the lobby, ignoring the unwelcoming looks Hannah kept shooting them, when Brian left the bullpen. Chief Penning was gone already.

Jesse immediately hurried over to wrap Brian in a tight but quick hug. "You're coming home, man, that's awesome!" He beamed. "The other's are gonna be so psyched."

"Really?" Brian asked, even as the three of them made their way into the elevator.

"Totally," Jesse assured him.

They were standing in the elevator, staring out at the lobby where Hannah was watching them with narrowed eyes, when suddenly Leon let himself be known and appeared right in the doors to the elevator. Hannah gasped and dropped the coffee she'd been holding. Leon slipped inside and let the doors shut while Hannah cursed at the hot temperature of her drink and how it was staining her clothes.

"She deserved it," Leon said when Dom and Brian both lifted an eyebrow at him. Jesse snickered.

Brian smiled for a moment but, as they moved slowly down the floors, it faded. "You're all really okay with this?" he asked. "With me coming back?"

"You mean because you lied?" Leon asked. "Because you're a cop working for an anti-mutant organization? Why would we be angry about that?" Leon asked sarcastically, a sharp gleam in his eyes.

Oh boy. Vince was gonna kill him, wasn't he? Brian would show up in town and suddenly a juggernaut of anger and muscle would barrel into him and he'd be gone. Short lived career.

"We're angry," Dom noted, crossing his arms and turning to face Brian in the small space of the elevator. "I thought I'd punch you when I saw you again."

His muscles flexed in his arms when he tensed them, as if holding himself back, and Brian's posture stiffened.

"I'm glad you didn't."

"Rome talked a great game in your defense," Leon told him. "His boy Tej too."

Tej? Tej hardly knew him. But, if it had won even one of the group over, then Brian was glad to have the support. It also made Brian feel better about him and Rome being together, and glad that Rome had told Tej about Brian's job.

The elevator doors opened and they all stepped out, then left the downstairs lobby for the street outside.

"Mia supported you too," Jesse said, pulling a beanie out of his pocket and slipping it over his head. "She and Vince got into it real bad. Never thought I'd see the day." He whistled as he slid his hands into his pockets. "But he's on your side now, so."

"He might still punch you," Leon warned him. "But he misses you too."

Dom placed a hand on Brian's shoulder, pulling the whole group to a stop next to a 1970 Dodge Charger. Dom's Charger. "We all miss you. The garage ain't the same without you in it."

Brian got caught staring into Dom's eyes and seeing that, though there was anxiety and hesitance, anger was not a dominant emotion looking back at him. He blinked hard and tossed his keys to Jesse.

"My car's the blue and silver Skyline right inside the parking garage over there," he pointed. "You and Leon mind taking that while I ride with Dom?"

They had things they needed to talk about and Brian wasn't ready to talk about them in front of the others yet. Jesse bounced in place and nodded. Leon shrugged.

"We were gonna start packing your place up anyhow, get you moved back to Torettown. You think we'll need a truck?"

Brian blinked at them almost uncomprehendingly. Pack up his place? "No. I don't…They put me up in a hotel. I don't actually live here."

"Right. An MCF agent. MCF has offices across the country. Where's your house, B? We'll get all your stuff sent over," Jesse assured him, his expression as serious as Brian had ever seen it. He was acting like getting Brian moved in to whatever house they'd arranged for him in Torettown was his personal mission and he refused to fail it.

Brian shook his head. "I don't have one," he repeated. "I told Mia, and you," he glanced at Dom. "I've been moving around since I was twenty-one. I haven't had a place of my own in six years. Whatever county station I was with paid for whatever housing my cover needed, but none of the stuff was actually mine."

While Jesse looked saddened by the news and Leon looked nonplussed, Dom took charge. "Then tell them the hotel and room number where you're staying, and they'll grab your stuff and meet us back home later," he said. "We've got a lot to talk about, you and me."

…

…

The Charger rolled down streets, took turns seemingly at random, and in general was just going with the flow of traffic. As far as Brian could tell, they weren't headed for Torettown just yet. Dom was quiet behind the steering wheel and Brian was quiet staring out the passenger window.

Brian could feel the heavy air from all that Dom wanted to say, to ask, to do, from himself as well. Where could he start? The team wanted him back, and that was more than he could hope for, but there were things Brian had to clear up before Torettown would really be home.

"Dom," he said, breaking the silence like a bullet through glass. He had nothing to follow it up with yet, but it felt like cutting a noose around his neck.

Luckily, it wasn't just Brian's neck the noose had been around.

"How much of it was a lie?" Dom asked without looking away from the road.

Sensible question. If Brian were in Dom's position, that would've been his first question too. Separate the truth from the lies and figure out what exactly you just signed yourself up for.

"My name is actually Brian O'Conner. I grew up in Barstow, California. I didn't lie about what it was like growing up there. Mutants were in and out of there every week, causing havoc and scaring people. I really did come into my powers when I was nine, and didn't accept it for what it was until I was twelve. Rome and I never dated, and neither did me and Monica," Brian rattled off. "I lied about my life when Rome got arrested."

He received a short glance from Dom, an instruction to explain himself. Brian was quick to comply.

"I was eighteen, and so was Rome. He was getting out of hand, using his powers to get people to give him things like expensive watches and electronics, then making other people believe they were worth way more than they were so he could make a huge profit off it. He liked taking people's cars just because he could, driving them around, hiding them for awhile, and then just dumping them on the side of a road somewhere when he got tired of them. I think he was trying to show me the benefit of having a mutation, but I was one breath from a panic attack every time I copied Brett Evensworth's knowledge of biology or Kate Rose's sports skills in order to pass a test or make a team."

"In December when we were nineteen, I'd just become a cop, and Rome got busted with ten cars in an old storehouse and then got caught bullshitting his way out of it. They had him in cuffs and shipped off to jail before the news even reached me that he was in trouble. It was a shitty Christmas. Shortly after that, I was given an undercover op. I was so good at adapting and blending in that they kept giving me more, and then I became pretty much a cop for hire at twenty-one, moving from police department to police department every few weeks or months, however long an op lasted. They needed results and I got results fast, so I was a hot commodity, until now."

For a moment there was quiet in the car, the only sound coming from the purr of the engine and the muted roll of wheels over asphalt. Dom still didn't look at him, but it seemed his grip on the steering wheel was looser.

"No other lies?" Dom asked, the words just a shade too blunt to be accusing.

Brian shook his head. "Tanner probably knew about my mutation when he hired me for the job, because my cover mutation was my own, and the backstory they gave me was bare enough that I could choose what to put in it. I just happened to put mostly my own story in the holes." He glanced out the window. Maybe, somehow, this had been Tanner's end game all along? "It's easier to keep with a story if it's based in truth. And your sister would've realized if I was lying, anyway."

A huff escaped Dom's lips. "She did notice you were lying," he said. "The problem was that she couldn't tell what about. Ninety percent of what you were saying rang true with her, but her mutation was still picking up on your bullshit." He took a deep breath. "She told me the other day that she's known your last name wasn't Spilner from the moment you introduced yourself, even though our background check on you said it was."

Brian laughed once and rubbed his hands together in his lap. "Yeah. I thought she did," he admitted.

The one time Mia really looked at him with suspicion that day had been when he said his name, and she had only seemed half truthful when repeating it to her brother.

"Why a cop?" was Dom's next question, a few blocks later. "Why'd you become a cop?"

Brian's lips quirked just a bit. "Aren't you tired of hearing me talk?" he asked in return.

Dom shook his head. "Just trying to understand you, Bri."

If Dom ever found out that his nickname would get Brian to do whatever Dom wanted, Brian would be in real trouble.

"I was watching some guys spar in the park, just before my eighteenth birthday. I thought it was cool and wished that I'd been taking classes like they had," he started. "Later on, I was putting gas in my car and I went inside to pay cash for it. There was a mutant inside. I watched him melt half the counter to scare the cashier into giving him all the money. I didn't even hesitate. I used the fighting skills I'd seen that day to take him down in three moves."

"Taking down a baddie made you put on the blues?" Dom asked.

Now Brian shook his head. "No. The Barstow Police Department had a little ceremony thanking me, the child, who saved the day. I got a ribbon and my picture taken with the police chief and the mayor. It was in the newspaper. Rome's mom was so proud she had it framed." He heaved a great sigh. "It was the first time I had willingly _chosen_ to use my mutation for something, and it felt like something big. Every time I saw that picture or the ribbon, I remembered that I had done something really good with this power I'd been so afraid of all my life. And I thought about how Rome didn't really hurt people with his power, and how I'd been scared of hurting people with mine. That's when I realized that the mutants who passed through were just as scared as I'd been, and I joined the force to help them out. I thought…if there was someone on their side, making sure the dangerous ones got put away but the simply unlucky ones got away, then maybe things would get better. I became a cop because I finally saw in myself the ability to use mutations to help people in need, not hurt them."

It wasn't until the Charger pulled to a stop at a red light that Brian noticed they were finally heading for the city limits. This was the same route he'd driven on his first day as Brian Spilner, when he'd left LA behind and entered Torettown. That must mean Dom was about done asking him questions.

As if proving Brian right, Dom's next words were, "One last question."

"Yeah?" Brian said. He felt like he'd given an interview with Diane Sawyer already.

"Me."

Brian shut his eyes and just breathed. The Charger began to move again with the changing of the light.

"You," Brian responded.

He opened his eyes and looked to Dom to find that Dom was watching him back, not keeping his eyes on the road. Somehow, Brian wasn't worried about getting into an accident. The bright LA sunlight was lighting up Dom like it had Monica's apartment building. Even his dark eyes seemed brighter.

Only when Dom returned his troubled gaze to the road was Brian able to organize his thoughts once more. Brian wasn't sure if he was glad they couldn't have this conversation literally face to face or not.

" _There was more of you in this mission than you want to admit. I believe Brian Spilner was much closer to Brian O'Conner than you think. You wouldn't be so torn if he was a lie."_

That's what Monica had told him. She believed that Brian's feelings regarding everything that had happened, the people he'd met, the things he'd experienced, were his own. And by his own admission, Brian had only vaguely lied about himself the entire time he was playing as Brian Spilner.

He took another deep breath, as if bracing himself against what he was about to say. "I'm a mimic, Dom," he said. "I can't guarantee that what I feel for you isn't based on what you feel for me. But I will never regret what we did, and I won't take it back or apologize for it."

He leveled his gaze on the side of Dom's face and saw that Dom's lips were trying to curl up into a smile. His own hopes lifted and breathing was a little difficult. Was it possible that Dom had forgiven him that quickly? He would accept that Brian might only want him so bad because Dom wanted Brian just as much?

"I can I work with that," Dom said after what felt like a lifetime.

Brian swallowed. "You can?"

Dom shrugged. "I wasn't gonna apologize for it either," he said as if that were the answer to all their problems.

Maybe it sort of was. When it came to him and Dom, he had nothing to feel sorry for. He didn't feel that his relationship with Dom was wrong, and it appeared that Dom didn't either.

Brian would likely apologize a lot later, to everyone on the team, for the lies and deception. He would ask for forgiveness that he didn't really think he deserved but that he had a feeling he'd already been given. Vince might punch his lights out, so that was a comfort. Only after that was out of the way could Brian really shed Brian Spilner's shadow for good and put his own back on.

The sign marking the edge of Los Angeles was bright and told the viewer to 'Return soon!' in full technicolor glory. Brian barely gave it a moment's glance, too busy looking to the small, humped sign just beyond it.

"Now Entering Torettown" it read in welcoming font. The sign tacked on the bottom read "NO COPS" in all capital letters in red and "We Handle Our Own" in smaller black letters along the bottom. There was barely a picket fence to mark the delineation between the two cities, but upon passing that sign and entering the Torettown city limits, Brian felt overwhelmed.

Dom reached across the car and took Brian's hand in his own, giving it a firm squeeze. A small smile lifted the corners of Brian's lips as he returned the squeeze.

For the first time since he was twenty, Brian was going home. He was going home to a place where he could be 100% completely himself, mutation and all. It wouldn't be a perfect life, especially not at first, but it was looking better with every quarter mile they drove. He felt amazingly free for the first time in his life.

_…_

_…_

_Till I See You Again_


End file.
